Fear of the Dark
by Jesse Cullen
Summary: AU New Moon. After Edward leaves, Bella attempts suicide and ends up in a psychiatric hospital where she and her psychiatrist attempt to rid Bella of personal demons come to life and that are terrorizing the hospital. Rated M to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**Why do I even bother anymore? I kinda feel like my Jacob Black rant may have made people hate me, but that's just how I feel. Yes, he's a fictional character, but he just makes me so friggin MAD!! **

**I'm really looking forward to this story, because I've been thinking about this for the longest time. It didn't even start out as a scary idea. It was humorous. I'll explain later. Anyway, please read and review...please...I beg of you...**

Bella Swan felt numb. She was standing in the wooded area just behind her house and staring up at her god, and her one true love Edward Cullen. Normally, this would be a cause for happiness, but not this time, not this night.

Edward's black eyes were distant and his expression was blank and devoid of any human emotion. That wasn't a surprise, because he was a vampire. But he was usually happy being with Bella.

"What do you mean?" Bella asked in a small, scared voice, her eyes burning with unshed tears.

"I don't think this will work anymore." Edward said flatly.

"You...you don't want me?"

Edward smiled grimly. "I'm sorry that I led you on. But I have to stop pretending now...besides, you'll be better without me. You can live."

"I am alive!" Bella stated, her voice choked, "see? I'm very alive! You don't have to go.!"

Edward looked up at her, his eyes betraying the briefest flicker of sorrow. But that was quickly replaced with annoyance.

"That's pathetic." he said, before turning on his heel and speeding out of the woods.

Bella stood there for a minute, her whole body shaking with surpressed sobs. She looked around, as though trying to find something that would bring Edward back. But, as the seconds ticked by, she realized that he was gone, and that he didn't love her anymore.

Still not allowing any tears to flow, Bella walked in a dream-like state through the trees, in the opposite direction of her house. She wanted to escape. Find somewhere where there was no more hurt in the world.

It was getting darker now, but she didn't care. Maybe the darkness would engulf her and she'd be worse than dead, away from any human emotion and pain.

She tripped over a rock and fell to the dirt, not bothering to get up again. She just lay there, blankly gazing at the other forest floor naturals that she could see.

How she envied the rocks. They were hard. and had so much protection that nothing pushed them over or made them weak. She wanted to be a rock, a fortress of un-emotion and solitude.

_I'm a rock, I'm a rock, I'm a rock. _She repested this mantra over and over in her mind, allowing herself to become part of the stone of unfeeling and distance. She didn't even hear the men shouting and calling for her.

One of them came over and helped her up. He said something to her that she didn't hear from her far away place. The man muttered something to his friends and then helped her back through the woods and too her house.

"Bella!" Charlie called in concern. He ran down to meet Bella and the men. "Bella!! Can you hear me? Are you alright?" She only stared blankly into his eyes, not answering. More muttering.

The men led Bella back inside of the house, where she simply stood in the kitchen, not taking in a word of their conversation. After a few minutes, the men left and Charlie steered Bella to a chair at the table.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice anxious. "Bella? Bella!!" She still didn't answer, but gazed intently at the table, making up stupid little patterns in her mind. "Bella, please," Charlie said more softly, "what's wrong?" His pleading tone seemed to reach her. She looked up, her eyes still empty and devoid of anything at all. No emotion, no life...nothing.

"I'm tired." she said hoarsley, before moving up in one graceful movement and walking to her room, staring straight ahead. She flopped down on her bed and stared into the pillows.

Pillows were soft, easily wounded, and thinly layered. They let everything in. But not rocks. That was why rocks were better than pillows. Bella took a deep breath and then turned to her CD player.

_Edward's CD!_ she thought with excitement. Maybe there was a way to be with him after all. She eagerly pressed play...but nothing happened. Bella blinked and then opened the lid. It was empty.

Her vision clouded, Bella reached for the scrapbook that her mother had given her for her birthday. The pictures she had taken of Edward were gone.

She hadn't cried at all after Edward had left. Now, as the full force of loosing love hit her, Bella curled into a ball, her head in her kness, and sobbed and let the tears fall down her face.

It was all gone.

Everything...

Time passes. Even when it seems impossible. Even when each tick of the second hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise. It passes unevenly, in large lurches and dragging lulls, but it passes. Even for Bella.

One evening in March, she was at home alone. Charlie had gone out with friends, as was his usual habit now that his daughter was in a weird catatonia. She didn't care. She had lost the ability to care about anything in September. She knew that Charlie wanted to help her, but was afraid to find professionals.

Bella was standing at the kitchen sink, washing the dishes in too hot water and listening to a radio program. She did idle things like that. Even at school, she just went to her classes, did her homework, and ignored her friends. This had a drawback and a plus. The drawback was that her friends quickly abandoned her. The plus was that all her grades had sky rocketed now that she didn't have _him _around to distract or dazzle her.

She'd stopped. No, she wasn't going to think about it anymore. Not him...She hadn't allowed her mind to take over during the last seven months for fear of thinking about him.

Bella continued the dishes as the song on the radio ended.

"Okay folks," the DJ said in a voice that was too cheerful for any normal person, "we've got a shout out all the way from Tennessee!! Caller what's your name?"

"Emmett Cullen." Bella dropped the frying pan she was transferring to the drying rack. Emmett..._his _brother. "And I requested this song for anyone who's trying to run away from what they're really feeling."

Bella's heart wrenched at the lyrics of the song:

_Earth to Bella_

_The world can be an unfriendly place_

_So hold you head up_

_And do your best to save some face_

_Earth to Bella_

"STOP IT!!" Bella screamed, throwing the frying pan at the radio. The loud crash and sparking that followed seemed to send a bolt of lightning through Bella. She gasped and felt tears well up.

Everything she had been trying to repress for the passed seven months came flooding back to her. Her breathing became rapid and uneven as she looked balefully around the kitchen. She went back to the frying pan, and grasped it in her shaking hands. The attack on the radio had felt good.

Giving a strangled sob, she swung the frying pan at everything she could hit. Glass, china, the wall clock and even the kitchen window. By this time she was sobbing, great heaving sobs that made her lungs scream in pain.

From the living room, she could hear a song playing on the television.

_Sparkling angel,_

_I couldn't see,_

_Your dark intentions, _

_your feelings for me._

_Fallen angel,_

_tell me why,_

_what is the reason,_

_the thought in your eye._

"Look at what you've done to me Edward." she sobbed, her voice sounding like the scraping of sandpaper against a chalk board.

Bella didn't know how the knife had ended up in her hand. All she knew, was that it was there. She looked down at her right arm where the scars from the stitches were faded and almost gone.

She looked down at her left arm...and brought the tip of the knife just below her rest. Then she dragged it down, making a long cut from wrist to just below her shoulder. As she cut, Bella's breathing became rapid.

She stumbled, feeling suddenly ill, into the living room. The blood dripping freely from her arm made vivid scarlet spots in the carpet and on the furniture. She turned, and nearly fell over and headed to the front door.

"Help." she whispered with a moan, " please." She tried to open the door, but her mind was going blank. With a last great effort, Bella stumbled to the kitcheb, getting blood on the ground. Her fingers trembling and stained with blood, she pulled a dish towel off the rack and covered her bleeding arm.

Then she fell to the cold linoleum floor, and saw only black.

If this was heaven, then it was too loud. Bella heard a steady rythmic beeping from somewhere to her left.

This wasn't heaven. She'd been in a place like this before and knew exactly where she was. She didn't want to open her eyes, because she knew that it would bring her back to the horrible reality.

"Bella?" a pleasant voice asked. Bella's eyes fluttered open.

"Edward?" she asked in a quiet, raspy voice. No...it wasn't Edward...but it was no doubt an angel. He had a handsome face, dirty blonde hair and a kind smile.

His eyes...they were...gold. No, not gold. They were hazel. Bella looked at this man, who couldn't have been a year younger than Carlisle Cullen.

"Who are you?" she asked in the same weak voice.

"My name is Riley Montague." he said, " you're in the West Seatlle General Hospital. You really freaked your dad out." Riley added.

"Is he here?" Bella asked.

"Yes. He's waiting for you, to take you home. You've been out for nearly two days." Bella groaned and leaned back into her pillows. She'd escaped death...again. Why was she being tormented?

Riley edged his chair closer and added, in a somewhat more professional tone, "Bella, can I ask you a question?" Bella only nodded. "Why...why exactly did you try to kill yourself?" he asked.

Bella opened her eyes, and was shocked to find that they were filled with tears. She didn't answer Riley, but just stared at the ceiling.

"I understand." Riley said. He got up. "I have to go talk to your Dad first before anything can be done to move you." Bella nodded and closed her eyes as Riley walked out. She was being stupid in not telling anyone, but then again, nobody had ever been able to understand that what she had with Edward was more than a high school romance.

She loved him deeply.

Bella's heart felt like it had been squeezed tightly by an icey hand. Edward didn't love her anymore. That was why he had left of course.

She opened her eyes, her mind reverting to it's original un-caring frame. She looked down at her arms. Her left one was covered in a white bandage that ran from her wrist to just below her shoulder where she had cut herself. There was no IV running anymore and nobody was there to keep her in the bed.

Slowly, Bella got to her feet, and began to walk, as though in a trance, down the hall of the hospital.

Riley sighed sadly. He'd first seen Bella two days ago, when he'd been called in by the head doctor. Dr. Lancster had tried a few times to get him down to West Seattle to help the patients.

He'd never been inclined and hadn't even been thinking about giving in, when he'd seen Bella. She'd been asleep then, but there was something about her that attracted Riley to her case.

After nearly five years at university, Riley had never seen a more defeated looking person. He wanted to find out more about Bella if she would open up a little bit more.

Charlie was waiting in the food court with Renee. They both looked as though they'd never divorced. Charlie was grasping Renee's hands and Renee was sobbing silently into his shoulder. They both got to their feet as Riley approached and bombarded him with questions.

"Is Bella awake?"

"How is she?"

"What's going to happen?"

Riley held up his hands and Charlie and Renee both quited down.

"Let's get some air." Riley suggested, gesturing to the courtyard. The three of them both walked out of the glass doors and walked slowly around the bright courtyard, which was a perfect square in the middle of the hospital. There were other entrances all around, leading out of the hospital. Above them rose the windows from the halls, rooms, and wards.

"Bella is awake." Riley told them after a few seconds. "But she hasn't told me what's wrong with her. Knowing the docotors at this place, " he gave the surrounding windows a dark look, "they'll want to keep her here until they find out what's wrong with her."

Renee gave a sob and tried to protst, but Riley over spoke her.

"It turns out that it's a good thing that I'm here. I'm going to try and make a connection with her and see if she'll tell me what's wrong. I hope she does it soon, because I really don't want her to spend too long in this place."

There was silence for a few minutes.

"Whatever it takes." Charlie said softly. "Do whatever you need to to get our Bella back."

Riley gave them both a sad smile and then nodded his head.

"I promise that I will do my damndest to get Bella out of here as quick as possible."

Renee sighed and then looked up at the sky. After a few minutes, the silence was cut by a piercing scream. Renee was staring wide eyed at the roof of the hospital.

Riley and Charlie followed her gaze.

"Jesus Christ!" Riley cursed in shock. They could see the figure of Bella, in her hospital pants and shirt, standing close to the edge, the wind whipping her brown hair into her face,

Renee broke down completely and fell into Charlie's arms in a faint. Without a word, Riley ran as fast as he could back through the door, through the food court, up the stairs and through the halls of West Seattle Psychiatric Hospital, praying that he wouldn't be too late to save Bella.

**And there we go. Song references, "Earth to Bella," by Incubus, and "Angels," by Within Temptation. Please review. I really want to know what people think of this story, because I love it. I know exactly where it's going, and it's going to start getting scary soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to all my lovely reviewers!! I'm really pleases that people are enjoying the story so far. I think I might get into the scary parts in the next chapter**

Riley took the roof three steps at a time and threw the door open. It was colder up here than down on the ground, and the wind was picking up ferocity. Bella was standing at the edge of the roof, staring ahead of her, her hair whipping around her face.

"Bella, don't!" Riley called. She didn't turn around. She just stared blankly ahead.Hesitantly, Riley began to inch toward her. He knew that people in this situation would be more apt to throw themselves off of the roof is somebody was there to hold them back.

"I know it's hard," he coaxed, "but I can help you...we all can."

"Nobody can help me." she said in a voice only just audible above the raging wind. "He was the only one who could've helped me." Riley felt a sudden pang of pity. Whoever had left Bella had broken her completely.

"Look," Riley said in a softer voice, " I don't know if you could possibly understand this, but I really you'd rather not spend anytime in this hospital."

"Why?"

"Because this place hasn't had any real insane patients in fifteen years. Most people just use it as an escape to calm down after nervous breakdowns or depressions...but if you throw yourself off the rooof and live, they'll start giving you shock therapy and that'll just screw you up even more."

Something about the gentle tone of his voice made Bella look back at him. His hazel eyes seemed to be sincerely pleading for her to understand. Bella took a ragged breath...and then stepped down. She was shaking so much, that she fell to her knees and began to cry in earnest.

Riley sat down beside her and awkwardly put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Do I have to stay here?" she asked fearfully.

"Not if I have anything to say about it. " Riley said determinedly.

"I'm afraid that's not up to you." said a voice from behind them. Riley turned and felt his heart turn to ice.

Victoria Sloane, head doctor at the hospital was standing in front of two other doctors, looking highly superior.

"She didn't do anything!" Riley said hotly.

He was sitting in a leather chair in Victoria's office along with Charlie, Renee, Victoria and one another doctor.

"Correction, " Victoria replied, "she didn't do anything this time. But she did slice her arm. Bella is, to put it bluntly, unstable."

"I know," Riley said in frustration, "but she can be helped without having to be strapped down to a bed every night. I could stop by around her house every other day and give her some counselling."

"Yes, but on the days you aren't there she could try something." Victoria countered, swinging her thick black behind her shoulders.

Riley struggled to find something to come back with. Something to save Bella from having to be locked up in this wanna-be asylum.

"I think," the other doctor from the corner said, "that we should let Ms. Swan's parents decide what they want to do with their daughter." His voice was pleasant and light, but there was something about his age, well over Victoria's forty-five years, that made the statement something that was not to be argued with.

Charlie and Renee glanced at each other. Renee looked like she could do with a bit of time in an asylum. Her hair was disshevled and she was pale. There were streaks of make-up on her face from when she had cried over the passed two days.

Charlie placed his hand over Renee's and gave it a light squeeze.

"Well," he began slowly, "I think that it'd be a hell of a lot better for all concerned if Bella got some help. And she seems to trust you alot." he gave Riley a nod, "so I think that Bella should recieve help from Dr. Montague while staying here, so we know that somebodies watching her all the time."

Riley took a deep breath and then gave a slow nod, trying to refrain from giving a harsh denial.

"Very well then." Victoria said nodding. "We'll keep Bella here-"

"Under non-maximum securtiy, I should hope." Riley pointedly interuppted.

"Yes, alrgiht." Victoria continued, "and she can recieve help from Riley." Charlie and Renee stood up, and after a brief farewell, left the office. The older doctor gave a weary sigh.

"I better go and see how Margie's doing with the interns." he said before leaving as well.

Silence spiraled between Victoria and Riley, neither of them looking at each other.

"Why did you come back here Riley?" Victoria asked as though she was of the opinoin that it hadn't been a good choice. "Everyone knows that you hate this place."

Riley got to his feet and gave Victoria a very superfluous look. "I came back," he said, "because I found out that there was at least one person in this puppet show that actually needed help."

"Every patient here need help." Victoria countered.

Riley snorted. "Nobod here has needed help for fifteen years, and you know that."

"How do you define help?"

"I don't define it as a woman spilling a pity party to me about how her family doesn't appreciate all the hard work she _thinks _she's doing, or an overwieght teen saying that they just can't stop eating."

Victoria shook her head.

"And how is Bella Swan any different?"

"She's different because she actually lost something. And she didn't come here to get away from something."

"No she came here because her father and mother wanted her to get help." Victoria's voice was getting defensive. Riley sighed in disgust.

"Look Victoria," he said, "I'm going to take that I can actually help her as a good thing. Please, just please let me do this my way."

"Fine." Riley turned on his heel and walked out of Miranda's office.

He was fuming as he walked down the hall to the elevator. He was so intent on the recent turn of events that he walked head long into an intern.

"Watch it!" she squeaked as she got to her feet.

"Sorry, Tina." Riley apologized. Tina came up to Riley's shoulder in height. She was a trim figure, wearing the blue orderly outfit required by the hospital, and had her fiery red hair in a ponytail.

"So, did Jezebelle give you a hard time?" she asked.

"No, she didn't." Riley said. "But she's not happy that she didn't get it her own way."

Tina chuckled as she walked alongside Riley to the elevator.

"Where're you headed?" she asked.

"Room 424." Riley answered.

"No way, that's where I'm going." Riley raised his eyebrows.

"Bella Swan?" he asked.

"Yeah, that one. I'm assigned to be her night nurse for a while."

Riley stopped and stared at Tina in disbelief. "No!" he said. "Victoria said that she wouldn't need any medication."

"She doesn't," Tina replied in a slightly shocked voice, "I'm just going to try and keep her company and bring her food once in a while."

Riley sighed as he and Tina entered the elevator. They were silent for the rest of the way, only speaking once they stopped outside Room 424 on the fourth floor.

Tina put her hand to the knob and tried to turn it. It didn't turn fully.

"It's locked." she growled.

"Margie." Riley said. Without a word, he turned and headed back to the elevator. He got out on the second floor and walked down the corridor, running into other interns on the way.

He stopped when he heard a strong, female voice coming from the very large desk in the center of a wide space. The desk was a perfect circle, with a few parts cut out to allow interns and Margie to pass through. There were no computers on the surface, but there were screens and pads on the desk that showed corridors and halls.

"What are all my interns doing in here!?" Margie yelled, making her way through the throng. Margie was a large black woman, with curly hair and a very maternal face. She wasn't mean, but she was very firm when she wanted something done.

Margie was in charge of security, and deligating the tasks to the interns. She was, all in all, a mother hen.

"Y'all need to be doin' your rounds now...NOW!" she shouted. The interns scurried away and Riley was able to make his way over to Margie, who was staring down at the security screen.

"What do you want?" she asked without looking up. "You're supposed to be doin' your rounds."

"Margie, I'm hurt." Riley said in an offended voice. Margie gasped and looked up, smiling.

"What're you doin' back?" she asked.

"I'm here to help Bella Swan." he answered. Margie's smile suddenly turned into a frown of concern.

"I've never seen one as bad as she is in my entire fifteen years here." she said.

"Well, I need Room 424 open." he said. Margie pressed a button on there was a brief beeping sound.

"It's open, sugah' " she told him. Riley nodded his thanks and then headed back to the fourth floor.

Tina was sitting next to Bella's bed. Riley felt a twinge of pity for her. Bella's hair was a mess, strands aimlessly falling around her face. She was staring into space, looking as though her heart would break at any moment.

"Bella," he said gently, "this is Tina, she's going to help me take care of you while you're here." Tina gave Bella a friendly smile and nodded.Bella did nothing.

Riley and Tina glanced at each other.

"I don't think she's ready to talk yet." Tina sighed, standing up and moving to the door. She turned back to Bella. "I'll be back tonight with some food for you okay?"

Still, Bella did nothing.

After Tina left, Riley turned back to Bella. To him, it seemed to him that if he wanted to make any head way with Bella, he needed to do it alone.

"Bella," he said gently, "can you hear me?"

"Yes." she said in a weak voice.

"Do you remember me?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me what happened?" he asked.

Bella stared into his face. For a moment she was tempted not to tell him anything at all, but he wanted to do was help...and all she wanted was somebody to help her, even if that somebody was god knows where in the world.

"There are parts I can't tell you." she said.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because you won't believe me if I told you." She expected him to be forceful and insist that she tell him everything. Bella was therefore surprised that he nodded in understanding.

"Can you at least tell me anything that you can?"

Bella nodded.

"I was in love with Edward." she began."It wasn't just a high school romance, it was so much more...and then he left." her voice began to tremble, "He told me that he didn't want me anymore...and I just took it all...I spent seven months just trying to block things out...but then it just broke through..." Bella's voice broke and she put her head onto her knees.

Riley put his hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay...well, no it's not. Bella...I really don't know how I'm going to be able to deal with you. But I want you to try and tell me everything you can when you're ready. That will help alot."

Bella nodded.

"Thank you." she whispered, before sinking back into her pillows and falling into a deep sleep.

She was awoken several hours later by a cold breeze and a loud thump. Bella sat up in the bed and looked around. The window was open. The room was dark and the un-natural silence seemed to be the most oppressing thing she had ever experienced in her life, as though it was expecting something at any moment.

Bella closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but she was afraid. She could feel something watching her. She looked around the room again...and gasped.

Standing in the corner, with his arms crossed over his chest, his pale skin almost lighting up the darkness...was Edward.

**Well, there's Chapter Two. This has a lot of character introduction in it. Most of the characters seen here will be re-appearing.**

**Just a little background on Victoria. She was originally supposed to be a man, but then I figured that, because I dis-liked the mother character on One Tree Hill, I'd change the man to a woman. She was originally named Miranda, but I have a friend named Miranda, so I just went with Victoria instead.**

**Please keep the reviews coming, they make me glad to know that people are enjoying this story so far.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you very much to all the people who reviewed the story. I'm very happy that you're enjoying this, but I'm also a little upset because some people think that Edward has actually come back.**

"Hello, love." Edward said. Bella jumped off the bed and ran to Edward, wanting to jump into his arms. She didn't care that he'd left her for seven months.

Edward didn't hold open his arms to Bella. He just kept leaning against the wall, brooding and dark. Bella stopped and gave him a puzzled look.

"Edward?" she asked, "What're you doing here?"

Edward didn't ansewer, but just stared interestedly at Bella, as though she were some kind of merchandise at an auction.

"Edward?"

"I just wanted to see you, love." he said finally.

Bella blinked. That wasn't the reaction she was expecting. It was also very frank and bland, as though Edward had just said it to sound like he...to sound like he still cared.

"What's wrong?" Bella asked. "Has something happened?"

"Yes, you've ended up in this place." he said lightly. "I thought you were stornger than that. I guess I was wrong."

"What?"

Edward sighed and moved forward. The light of the moon from outside cast him into a sharper relief. He was just as pale as he ever had been, his hair the same copper color that Bella had loved...but there was something strange about his eyes...something that made Bella back away.

"I really thought you were stronger than this, Bella." he continued. "I thought you'd be able to get over a high school fling."

"What are you talking about?" Bella asked in a wounded voice. "High school fling? It's never been like that."

Edward snorted. "Is that what you thought? I have to say I'm very surprised that you thought we were in love."

"But you said-

"What can I say? I wanted to see how into it you would get."

Bella was shaking with rage and confusion. This wasn't Edward. He had always made it his first priority to be so gentle with her.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

Edward smiled, and Bella felt cold go through her body. That wasn't the crooked smile Edward had. It looked the same, but there was something in his eyes that gave Bella a feeling of forboding...something _evil._

"I'm the real Edward Cullen." he said simply. "The one who was hiding for the benefit of not hurting your precious feelings."

"You are not Edward Cullen." Bella said through gritted teeth. "He would never hurt me like this."

"But I did. I left you."

"Well, that was because...you...just...shut up!" Bella fumed stupidily. Edward took a few steps toward Bella, who didn't back away. They were face to face. Bella also noted that she couldn't detect the farmiliar scent that Edward always had.

"Quite the clingy one, aren't you?" he jeered. "All lost and afraid without me, it's pathetic."

"i'm not pathetic." Bella declared, but her voice was shaking.

"You are. Seven months away from me and look where you are. In a mental hospital."

"Shut up..."

"You're pathetic." Edward smacked Bella across the face. Her head jerked to the side, she gave a strangled sob and fell to her knees, tears falling freely.

"I've learned alot about myself since I've been gone." Edward continued. "And one of the things I learned is that I like strong woman who don't need to be protected."

"Talking about me, kitten?" a voice asked from the door. Bella turned. Rosalie was standing in the frame of the door, smirking. She was wearing a blood red tube top and tight short shorts. Edward grinned and went to her side, and captured her mouth with his.

"No." Bella sobbed. "No...please...help me..."

They did not help, but kissed more passionatley. Bella screamed in agony and fell to the floor. She was shaking, and crying so loudly, that she was surprised nobody was coming to help her.

Then she them.

Snaking over her body.

Bella looked down and screamed. Shadowy arms were crawling up her body. At the same time, she felt a hand move across her face. She was going to die.

And then, the lights turned on.

The arms vanished.

Bella gasped and looked up.

Tina and Riley were standing in the door exactly where Edward and Rosalie had been. Riley helped Bella to her feet and set her on the edge of the bed.

"What happened?" Riley asked, his face white, "we heard you screaming."

Bella gasped, still crying and trembling.

Tina moved quickly to the sink and grabbed a paper cup and filled it with water, which she handed to Bella. Bella's hands were shaking so badly that water was splashing over the edges of the cup.

"Breathe, Bella, breathe." Riley said coaxingly. After a few more seconds, Bella stopped gasping for breath, though she was still trembling a little. She brought the cup to her lips and took a long drink.

"What happend Bella?" Riley asked again.

Bella shook her head, and began to cry again. She moaned something that neither Riley or Tina could distinguish.

"Um...Bella?" Tina asked in trepedation.

"I don't...want to be crazy..." she whispered, staring at the floor.

"What do you mean?" Tina asked.

"I saw something." Bella sobbed.

"You had a hallucination?" Riley questioned. Bella didn't answer right away.She stared at the floor for a minute and then took a ragged breath.

"I guess." she said. She brought her hand to the side of her face, and winced. It stung. Riley looked over and peered questioningly at the angry red mark that had appeared on Bella's cheek.

"Did someone attack you?" he asked angrily.

"My hallucination did." Bella choked. She put her head in her hands and began to rock back and forth, sobbing and taking shallow breaths.

Tina and Riley glanced at each other nervously. Neither of them wanted to believe that Bella was really loosing her grip, but then agian, you never knew.

"We have to go see Victoria." Tina said, making a move to the door.

"No we don't!" Riley said emphatically. "If we go to Victoria, she's going to put Bella on sleeping pills or some shit like that."

"I don't wanna go to sleep." Bella cried.

"Why?" Riley asked in greater concern.

"I'm scared." Bella said in a whisper. Riley put a comforting arm on her shoulder.

"What are you afraid of?"

"I'm afraid of _them._"

Riley leaned against the wall outside Room 424. Tina had agreed to stay up with Bella and play board games from the children section. He sighed heavily and shook his head.

He didn't know what to do. It was clear that Bella had been attacked by something, or else she wouldn't have that red mark in her face in the shape of a hand. But the only people that Margie had been instructed to let into Room 424 were Riley, Tina, and Victoria.

Nobody could have broken in, because the window was on the fourth floor.

And Bella was definetly terrified. So, it was clear that someone or something had broken into Bella's room and slapped her across the face...but what?

She'd said hallucination...but what if it was more than that? What if it was some kind of poltergeist.

Riley recalled the story of the Bell Witch, that had terrorized the daughter of a local family, and had slapped her repeatedly one night.

Rilley shook himself and gave a bitter laugh. He was 23 years, had a certified psychology degree, and here he was thinking about ghosts.

He peered back into Bella's room. Bella and Tina were chatting happily, playing a game of Guess Who. He smiled. As he walked down the dark hallway, Riley sincerely hoped that Bella would be more relaxed in the morning.

Maybe it was because this was her first night in the hospital, and she was on edge. The only thing to be afraif of here was Victoria.

Marshall was running from something down the halls of the hospital. He'd just returned from making his evening rounds and he was apparenlty the only person on the sixth floor.

He'd always hated these late night rounds and wondered vaugely if he'd be better off at a normal hospital or walk-in clinic.

As Marshall passed the door to the stairs, he remembered a scene from his least favorite movie in the world, The Grudge. It seriously scared him, something that his brothers had been quick to joke about...and they were both ten years old.

But they weren't the ones working in a dark mental hospital. Marshall closed his eyes as he walked passed the door. In but a second, he'd be passed and in the elevator down to the second floor where he'd be able to talk to Margie.

Then he heard a scratching noise from the stairs. Turning against his better judgement, Marshall felt his blood go cold. A woman with pale white skin and wide, angry eyes, had just emerged from the stair doors.

Giving a cry, Marshall turned tail and ran down the hall, desperatley trying to get to the elevator. The woman was after him, not running, but somehow keeping up. Frantically, Marshall jammed the button for the elevator.

_Main floor...second floor..._Marshall glanced back and felt his heart stop. The woman was no more than 100 yards away from him. _Third floor...fourth floor..._abandonig all attempt to wait, Marshall fled to the right, his sneakers scuffing the linoleum of the hall. The woman turned, making a strange gasping rattling sound, and pursued him down the hall.

She was on her feet, but everytime she moved, her arms and legs would twitch sparatically. Marshall couldn't scream. His voice was lost in the terror.

He turned another corner and ran into a closet.

He closed the door and his amongst the white lab coats and huddled into the smallest shape possible.

From outside, he could hear the rattling gasps the woman was making.

Marshall felt something warm on his face and was ashamed to find that he was crying.

Then the woman passed.

Marshall breathed a sigh of relief. He closed his eyes and had just made up his mind to get out of the closet, when he felt cold arms from behind.

He heard the rattling gasp...and then his hair turned white.

Tina and Bella had spent a sleepless evening playing Guess Who, Junior Monopoly, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Snakes and Ladders, and Parchesi.

It was nine in the morning when Tina finally decided that it was enough.

"Thank you." Bella said with a weak smile.

"I had fun." Tina answered with a happy smile. And it was true. She liked the fact that Bella felt she could trust her enough to keep her safe from any hallucinations.

"Well, if you'll stay here, I'm going to pop down and see what Margie has scheduled for me. I think Riley will come in to have a talk to you around ten or so."

Bella nodded and then sat back on her bed.

Tina closed the door behid her and journeyed down to the second floor.

"Hey Margie." she greeted cheerfully.

"Hey honey." Marige said with a warm smile. "You look tired."

"I stayed up with Bella and played board games. She had...a nightmare."

Margie was instantly sympathetic. "Poor baby. I really hope she's okay soon."

"Well, so do Riley and I. What do I have on my schedule?"

"Hmmm," Marige punched in something on the keys and then peered at a list on the screen. "You've got your rounds first. Then at around noon it's lunch. And then more rounds. And then you get some time with Bella.Then evening rounds.:

"Do I get to sleep at all?" Tina asked cheekily. Margie chuckled. After a few minutes of idle conversation, Tina headed to the elevator.

"Wait up!" a voice said. Tina held the elevator door open and another intern walked in. He was tall, good looking, with a mop of curly black hair, and a very charming smile.

"Morning Wade." Tina said.

" 'Sup?"

"Where are you headed?"

"Room 605, first on my rounds."

"Really? That's where I'm going." Tina said with a smile. Wade grinned.

"We can make it a date." he said.

"Don't get funny." Tina warned.

"I'm always funny." Wade countered. Tina giggled and a second later, they left the elevator on the sixth floor. As they walked along the hall, Tina told of her night with Bella, and how scared Bella had been after waking up from her nightmare.

"Are you sure it was a nightmare?" Wade asked as they walked down the hall.

"Well," Tina confessed, "she was on the floor, whimering and crying when Riley and I checked on her."

Wade frowned and shook his head. He and Tina went into their seperate rooms. Tina was checking up on a woman who had just recovered from her depression and was trying to re-build her confidence...whatever that meant.

After about fifteen minutes of checking up, Tina left the room, rolling her eyes. Riley had a point when he said that this hospital was becoming more of a half-way house.

"Have fun?" Wade asked glumly. Tina tunred and gave a whoop of laughter. Wade's shirt was stained with grape juice.

"How violent." Tina joked.

"Oh shut up." Wade grumbled as they walked back down the hall.

"Don't worry, there are lab coats in the closet just to the right of the elevator."

"Good." Wade said, becoming more cheerful. He and Tina turned the corner and approached the closet.

Wade turned the handle and yanked the door opened.

Tina screamed, a sound that reverberated all over tha hallway. Huddled in the corner, his hair a stark white, and a look of utmost terror on his face...was the now very dead body of Marshall...

**There we go, some scary stuff. References to the Ring and the Grudge, obviously. Don't worry, no more J-Horror after this. There's going to be a lot more Bella in the next few chapters.**

**Anyway, I know that some reviewers were happy that Edward came back at the end of the last chapter, and I feel awful if I let you down. But I've had this story planned out for a while, and one of Bella's perosnal demons was going to resemble Edward.**

**Please keep the reviews coming. I love all those who review about as much as I love Edward and Bella, though not quite as much.**


	4. Chapter 4

**YAY FOR REVIEWS!! I'm also really happy to see that alot of people have this on story alert and favorites. You guys rock! Anyway, I've figured out a schedule for updating. Every weekday, I'll update every other day, so Tuesdays and Thursdays. On the weekend, I'll do an update for Sunday and Monday, this way I can finish this story before the end of the school year, which is looking very distant at this moment.**

**But enough with my troubles, I'd really like to know what people think of Riley so far. And I'd also appreciate feedback on the scary bits that I wrote in the last chapter. There's more on the way, but not anything too scary until the next chapter.**

Bella was aware of the sounds of the investigation from outside her door. Riley had informed her earlier that the police were doing a homocide investigation and that she wouldn't be able to go for the walk with Tina.

So, she'd stayed in her room all afternoon, listening to the general noise from the hall, and trying to ignore anything that she heard. Once in a while, she'd hear raised voices from the interns, talking about someone named Marshall.

"They said he was scared too death." one said.

"What, like in the Ring?" his friend asked.

"Pretty much."

Bella tried to drown out the noises without sleeping. She knew that if she slept, that, upon waking, she'd find the other Edward. That's what she referred to them as...the Others.

Bella looked up as the door opened. Riley came in, looking fatigued and warn.

"What's happening?" Bella asked quietly.

Riley sighed and sat in the chair next to Bella's bed.

"We don't really know." he said, "it can't be a murder, because Marshall was scared to death. The police talked to everyone, and from they've gathered, he wasn't a very brave person. He's the type who would scream during a horror movie. Anyway, Tina's pretty shook up."

"Will she be okay?"

"Yes, but she's taking the night off to stay with her mother." the corners of Riley's mouth twitched. Then, he became serious and leaned closer to Bella. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine...I'm pretty much doing what I've been doing for the passed seven months." she answered sadly.

Riley grimaced and sighed.

"Bella," he began, "I want to talk to you about last night, if that's okay."

Bella didn't answer for a minute. Then, she looked slowly up. "You won't believe me."

"Try me. Pretend I'm not a psychiatrist."

Bella smiled despite herself, and then gazed at the door. After a few seconds, she sighed heavily and then turned back to Riley.

"I saw...well, I _thought _saw...Edward...and his sister Rosalie."

"Is that why you were screaming?" Riley asked in confusion. Bella shook her head and then looked at him, an almost pleading expression on her face.

"They were...different." she told him. She gulped and then said, "they were...cruel. Edward hit me."

Riley payed rapt attention as Bella explained what had happen, down to what Edward said. She talked about the arms suddenlt grabbing her, before Riley stood up and gave her a very disbelieving look.

"Arms? Bella...please, we're trying to get you out of the cuckoo's nest."

Bella shook her head and then flopped against the pillows.

"I knew you weren't going to believe me." she whispered. Riley sighed and then sat back down on the chair, trying to get a grip on the annoyance he suddenly felt.

"Bella," he said softly, "I don't doubt that you saw these things...but, Tina and I opened the door and there weren't any arms."

"Then what's happening to me?"

"Sometimes, when you're deeply hurting for somebody, you imagine seeing them. It happens all the time to people who were really close to deceased family or friends."

"Then why was Edward so cruel to me?"

"Guilt. You might be feeling guilt for something." Riley's voice wavered. From what he knew of Edward, he didn't think that Bella had anything to be feeling guilty about. Bella took a long deep breath and then gave a weak smile.

"I guess you're right." she said. "But...what am I going to do to not feel guilty?"

"That's why I'm here." Riley answered, with a smile. "I'm going to help you. I want you to feel better. We all do." Bella smiled warmly at him and then looked up at the wall clock. It was after eight o' clock.

"Do you want to try and get some sleep?" Riley asked. For an instant, Bella felt a feeling of panic. She didn't want to be alone.

Riley seemed to be reading her mind.

"I'll be in my room down the hall." he promised. She nodded...and then, a rush of thankfulness coming over her, Bella threw her arms around him. Riley was startled for a moment, and then hugged Bella comfortingly.

"Try to get some sleep." he said, still hugging her. She nodded, and then let go, giving him a warm smile. Riley stood up and then walked to the door. Bella, who had settled herself in bed, called out "Wait!"

Riley looked back.

"Could you ...could you leave the light on...please?"

Riley chuckled, it was like tucking a child in. "Okay," he said, "do you want me to read you a story too?" he added as a joke.

"Could you?" Bella joked back. Riley chuckled again and then closed the door, leaving the lights on. Bella smiled to herself, closed her eyes, and was asleep in minutes.

The lights flickered. Bella opened her eyes and groaned. The lights were out and Edward and Rosalie were standning at the end of her bed.

"Have a good sleep." Edward asked sarcastically. Bella sat up. Despite all her assurances to tell herself to be brave, she felt her heart sinking.

'G-go away." she stammered.

"No, I'm having too much fun." Rosalie said. "Besides, you're not brave...you're nothing. You can't do anything."

"Shut up." Bella said, trying to regain her confidence.Edward laughed.

"This is exactly why I left." Edward said, rolling his eyes. "You try to be what you're not...brave...strong. At least with Rose, she's always the same." he laughed, as did Rosalie. The two of them joined for another passionate kiss. Summoning all the strenght she could, Bella raised her head.

"She's always the same? The same what? The same whore?"

Rosalie broke apart and turned to her, her eyes blazing. edward lunged and tackled Bella to the bed. She yelped and struggled to get him off of her, but he was too heavy.

"You ignorant little bitch." Edward spat. He slapped Bella, once, twice, three times across the face. She couldn't fight it anymore. Bella let a sob escape before she started to cry.

Edward jumped off of her, looking disgusted. Rosalie made a move forward, but then she stopped, looking at the wall. An evil smile spread over her face.

"Too bad." she sighed. "Oh well, we'll let the Master have fun with you."

"What?" Bella choked. She looked at the wall and then scampered to the end of her bed, staring at the dark wall in horror.

A black lump was moving in the wall, as if some giant rabbit were tunneling in it. Bella moved to the very end of the bed and fell off the end, falling on the cold linoleum.

Out of the black lump, emerged a figure, only just visible in the darkness. It was human in shape, but seemed to be wearing a bunch of black clothes sewn together. It looked like something directly from a horror movie. It's face was not visible because it had no face.

Bella gave a piercing scream, and scrambled to the door.

"That's right," Edward called after her, "run, hop, jump and skip!" As the Master ran passed, Edward and Rosalie vanished, cackling as they heard Bella's screams and cries echo down the halls of the hospital.

**Okay, that was a short chapter, but I really want to get into the other stuff in the next chapter. Be patient until Thursday, that's when the next chapter will come out.**

**A big thank you to MadTv and th French and Saunders comedy act. I've been watching every clip I can find on youtube. For some reason, I need noise to help me stay focused as I'm typing this up.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the long wait. School was getting in the way a little bit, but mostly, the weather here sucks horribly. Two feet of snow the wekeend befre last and then it snowed from Friday to Sunday morning so, I felt very out of it.**

Bella ran as fast as she could, banging into the wall on several occasions because her knees were so wobbly. She looked back over her shoulder and cried in dismay. The Master wasn't showing any signs of slowing down.

Looking back to the front, Bella's heart gave a glad leap. The elevator doors were close by. She jabbed the button and looked back. The Master wasn't hurrying, but rather menacingly walking forwards. The door opened and Bella fell into the elevator car. She pushed the main floor button and closed her eyes, breathing heavily.

The car moved down the floors, before it dinged open a second later. Bella scampered out and looked around. Margie was sitting at the security desk, listening to an IPod and lip syncing. Giving a sigh of relief, Bella started walking to the desk, when she stopped short.

What the hell was she supposed to say? "_Margie you have to help me. Something that may only be an insanity induced hallucination is stalking me through the hallways!_" Bella shook her head and turned back to the elevator. She decided to just try and go back to sleep.

After getting off at the fourth floor, Bella walked quickly down the dark hall. Nothing happened. She smiled in relief and then turned to her door. The room was dark through the small square windows set in the top of the door. Bella squinted and slowly, very slowly drew forward...

The lights in her room flickered on. She sighed...and then screamed as the black visage of the Master suddenly appeared behind the glass. Turning tail, Bella scampered down the hall, the opposite way she had come. She looked back and saw that the Master had just left her room.

Her face hit the floow as something seized her ankles. She looked back and yelped. The shadowy arms were holding her down. She struggled in vain to get away. She banged on the floor, scremaing for anybody to help her.

Lights came on in the room closest to where she lay. A woman peered battily out at Bella with an annoyed look before turning the lights off. The arms were gone.

So that was it. The arms couldn't materialize in the light. Bella jumped up and gave the hall one quick look. Nothing. But the very end of the hall formed a blind corner between two walls. Bella was just thinking how she didn't like blind corners in a place like this, when a hand covered her mouth.

"Run run run as fast as you can." Edward whispered, before cackling at the sob that escaped Bella's lips. He shoved her away from him and continued to laugh like a maniac as she ran down the hall toward the darkness of the blind corner.

She was six feet away from it...still nothing...four feet...all was safe...Bella passed the corner and gave a jubilant cry that turned into a scream. The Master was waiting just around the corner. Bella looked around.

"Somebody help me!" she yelled. Nobody came. There was a closet close by. Bella threw open the door. A flashlight! She grabbed it, turned it on, and pointed the beam of light at the Master, who vanished into the surrounding blackness.

Breathing heavily, Bella walked down the hall, keeping a close eye on the shadows, knowing that the Master was hiding somewhere. The beam of light played on the walls, giving Bella a small sense of safety. She walked passed a door that lead to the stairs.

The Master burst from the stairs and narrowly missed tackling Bella, who ran down the hair. She didn't look back this time, keeping her eyes forward on another door that led to the stairs to the fifth floor. A sign next to the door read "Fifth Floor: Recovery and Psychiatric Offices." That meant that Riley would be in one of those offices, sleeping.

Bella pushed the door open and took the stairs two at a time. She pushed the door at the top of the landing open so hard, that she fell to the colld floor, the flashlight flying out of her hands and skidding over the linoleum, coming to a halt about two hundred yards away from where Bella was.

She pushed herself to her feet and limped over to the flashlght. She picked it up, and cautiously proceeded down the hall. She turned a corner...and her blood ran cold.

The other end of the hallway was not visible. The windows in that section had been covered or had not been installed at all. It was pitch black. Taking a deep breath, Bella held the flashlight out, cutting a beam of light through the darkness. She made her way through the shadowy corridor, breathing slowly.

The flashlight begin to fade and sputter...and then it died. Abandoning all pretense, Bella screamed and ran for all she was worth through the rest of the inky blackness, feeling hands grasping at her hair. She came our of the darkness suddenly and ran right through the Master.

Bella turned and stared in confusion at the shadowy figure. She had run directly through the Master, only feeling a cold chill run through her. The Master pulled something from out of himself.

It was a lethal knife. Bella spun on her heel and ran towards a door, that had a name plate with indistinct writing. There was a beam of light from the crack at the bottom of the door.

Feeling close to help, Bella ran all the faster and then fell again. The arms had once again snatched her ankles and were holding her down, crawling up her body. She tried to move but couldn't. Giving a choked sob, Bella closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.

Edward's face burst into her vision.

"Bella...scream." he said calmly. Bella filled her lungs with air and let out a piercing scream that echoed off the walls. The door banged open, spreading light on the floor.

Victoria, Riley, and Tina all came out, gaping at the sight in fron of them. Laying in the pool of light was Bella, curled into a tight ball and sobbing hysterically.

Riley folded his arms and glared at Victoria. After finding the prone Bella, Victoria had called for two security personnel to come up to the fifth floor. They had carried Bella back to her room and Victoria had instructed them to strap her in.

"Don't give me that look!" Victoria snapped. She was glaring back at Riley, as though hoping to melt him with her gaze. Tina was sitting meekly in a chair, out of the line of fire.

"Why shouldn't I?" he snapped back.

"Because I'm your superior." Victoria answered.

Riley snorted. "I don't work here, remember?"

"Then you can leave now. As a matter of fact, I have a mind to discharge you."

Riley mouthed furiously at Victoria, before looking away and running a hand wearily through his hair.

"Why did you have to strap her in?" he asked more calmly.

"Because this is the second time she's gotten out of her bed." Victoria answered. "I don't want to have her hurting herself or others." She stood up and looked out the window for a long minute before turning back to Riley and Tina. "I'm letting you two continue as her care-givers because she seems to trust the two of you a lot more than anyone else."

Riley sighed and stood up. "Thanks." he said in a half-sarcastic voice. He gestured to Tina, who stood up and accompanied him back to his office. The office was a little different than regular offices. It was a little larger, with a bed to one side. It had once been a patient room.

"Are you going to be okay?" Tina asked.

Riley sighed and then nodded, smiling sadly."I'll be fine." he lied. Tina nodded, said goodnight, and then left. Riley watched until she was in the elevator, before closing the door and stripping his shirt off. He crawled into his bed, and stared up at the ceiling, thinking. After a moment, he sighed again and closed his eyes.

_"Hurry up." Riley said smiling. She smiled back at him, her eyes shining happily. She threw her blonde hair back over her shoulder and then took his arm._

_They walked happily down the road for a moment, when she stopped, staring up at the roof of a nearby building._

_"What is it?" Riley asked. His gaze followed hers. She was staring up at lone figure on the roof. Before any of them could move, the figure jumped and hit the pavement, splattering blood._

_Riley's eyes widened. He looked at the dead body, the blood mixing with the blonde hair. He turned back to her. She was pale, sick looing, her eyes sunken in._

_"You did it!" she said hoarsley._

Riley gasped and sat up, looking wildly around. Then he remembered that he was in his office, and far away from any dead people. There was a thin layer of sweat covering his body. He stood up and walked across the office to a desk that housed a notepad, a re-charging laptop and a small picutre.

Riley lifted the picture with a shaking hand and gazed at it. The happy couple was smiling at him. Riley shook his head. How full of life he'd been a year ago. And her. She was smiling widely and looking happier than anybody could be.

"Jenna." he whispered softly, before holding the picture to him, and allowing himself to cry.

Bella lay, staring up at the ceiling. Tina came in, holding a tray of food. Tina had been here only four hours ago with Bella's dinner. Now she was coming in for her nightly check.

She lookd down at Bella's wrist and ankle restraints and shook her head. Bella had been restrained for two days now, and nothing at all had happened.

"Ready for bed?" Tina asked brightly. Bella just shook her head and continued to stare at the ceiling tiles. Tina frowned and pulled the chair next to Bella's bed. "Bella," she said," I know I shouldn't be doing this, but how'd you like to go for a little girls night out?"

"How?" Bella asked morosely.

"It's my night off." Tina explained. "And I can let you out." Bella looked at Tina, and for the first time, a smile appeared on her face.

"Okay." she said with such genuine enthusiasm that Tina beamed. Tina began to work at Bella's left wrist, chatting happily about the places they would go, when Bella looked up.

Her heart stopped beating. The shadowy form of the Master was rising above and behind Tina.

"Tina." Bella whispered.

"What?" Tina asked. Bella began to breathe in strangled gasps. "Please don't do this Bella." Tina asked. "You only just started snapping out of it and Riley wants you to-"

Tina stopped dead. She felt a threatening presence. Slowly, she looked around, leaving Bella's hand free. Tina screamed as she looked up at the Master, and then she ran for the door, the Master in hot pursuit.

"TINA RUN!!" Bella screamed as she began to work at the other restraint on her right hand.

**And there we are. Again, please review. I think that I'm gonna just update without a schedule. It makes it easier. I know that might suck, but if I have a deadline, it makes it harder to write for all of you wonderful people.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'd like to thank all the little people I had to step on to get here, especially all the leprechauns. You're bodies will remain forever squashed on the pavement. Erhem, anyway, I'm listening to music from RENT as I write this. Also, I'd like to thank all the people who favortied and reviewed not only this story, but Do the Nathan, because I had no idea that so many people would like it.**

**By the way, the beginning of this chapter may sound just like the last one, so please bear with me. I've also got a pic of how I imagined the Master on my profile. You might recognize him. Please review.**

**oooOOoooOOooo**

Whatever was chasing her was fast. Tina kept looking over her shoulder, only to see the black thing not five feet behind her. Giving a strangled yell, she burst through the door and the down the stairs to the third floor. The maniac wasn't behind her now. Tina almost cried in relief, but a moment later she groaned. The elevator at the end of the third floor hall opened, and there was Mr. Psycho, holding a lethal knife.

"Fuck!" Tina spat. She turned on her heel and, having no other choice, ran down the hall in the opposite direction of the Master, who had somehow changed his form slightly. He was still entirely black, but this time it looked more like he was wearing a dark slicker rather than just mass of blackness.

Tina ran through the hall, wondering why the hell nobody was around to help her. She was heading for the other stair door, when she noticed that there was no sound of pursuing footsteps. Turning, Tina squinted into the darkness. Nothing. Tina wasn't the type of person to let her guard down in a situation like this, so she looked carefully around the corner.

Still nothing. She liked this silence even less than the noise of footsteps that had been behind her ever since she's scampered out of Bella's room. In the quiet, she feared some sort of cunning devilry of the Master. But there was something about this particular silence that made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. It was opressive rather than meancing.

Stealthily, Tina walked around the other corner and still found nothing. Perhaps the Master had gone back upstairs to attack Bella.

Bella! Anger gripped Tina now. She headed to the storage closet to get some sort of weapon when she was thrown backwards by the Master, who had been hiding there.

Ignoring the pain in her side, Tina scrambled to her feet and ran for all she was worth passed the stair doors and to the elevator, which had just opened. Tine pressed the Basement button over and over again. The doors slid shut and she sank to the floor in the corner, breathing hard.

The Basement was the furthest from the third floor. She'd have enough time to get to the first floor and out the front doors afterwards.

oooOOoooOOooo

Bella meanwhile, had freed her feet and was limping down the hall, her legs weak. She turned the corner and backed into the wall. The lights at the other end of the hall were flickering. One by one, they died out until all that was left was the same darkness that had been in front of Victoria's office the other night.

She stared at it for some time, before taking a deep breath. She moved forward and then realized the feeling that was on her hair. She tunred back and fell to the ground, scampering backwards. The arms had been slowly protruding out of the wall. Even now, there were more coming out of the floor. Bella yelped, and pushed herself to her feet. She took a deep breath and ran for all she was worth through the inky blackness, her hair fanning out behind her. She could feel the hands snatching at her, but she didn't really care at that moment. Somehow, she managed to get out of th dark patch and press the elevator button.

The doors slid open a second later and Bella threw herself in, pressing the fifth floor button. The elevator car moved up the floor and stopped. Bella got out and ran as fast as she could.

"RILEY!" she screamed. She knew that he was the only person who had the smallest chance of believing her. Bella skidded to a halt. She could hear a noise just around the next corner, a sort of crawling noise, but somehow watery. It sounded like rain hitting a tin roof, only more scratchy. Bella closed her eyes and rounded the next corner.

She screamed as she walked into something tall.

"Bella?" It was Riley, looking curiously down at her. "How did you get out?"

"Tina!" Bella gasped. "It's after her."

"What?"

"Please!" Bella practically yelled. "Just help her!"

Riley raised his hands. "Alright," he said, "what's after her."

Bella realy did sob this time, falling to the ground with her arms around her knees. She rocked back and forth, her breathing shallow and uneven. Riley knelt down beside her.

"Bella," he said more gently, "who's after Tina?"

"He's a bad man." Bella sobbed. "He's going to hurt her." She looked up at him, willing him to understand. Riley seemed to get the message, because he got to his feet, and helped Bella up.

"Got o my office and lock the door," he told her. "Where'd Tina go?"

"She ran down the hall. I think she might have gone to the third floor."

"Alright." Riley waited until Bella was safely in his office, before turning to the equipment closet and getting a flashlight and large hammer.

Bravely, he hurried down the hall and into the elevator. He waited unitl the car stopped on the second floor and got out, heading over to Margie, who was watching some sort of horror movie on a portable television.

"Don't go in there!" she was saying. "Hah! Told ya'. Now you ain't got no head."

"Marige." Riley began. Margie shrieked and turned to him.

"Dammit, you scared me." she breathed. 'Whaddya' need sugar?"

"Did you see anybody on the third floor security cameras?" Margie bent forward over the monitor and hit a few buttons.

"Just this." she said. Riley leaned in and looked down at the monitor, the timer showing a mere fifteen minutes ago. It was near an elevator, and he saw Tina run in, looking utterly terrified.

"Can we get that elevator monitor?" Riley asked tersley. Margi gave him a questioning look, but obliged. They were now looking at Tina, huddled in the elevator, shaking and crying. "Did she come through here?"

"No."

Riley bit his lip. "Shit." he said. "That means she's in the basement!"

oooOOoooOOooo

The whir of ventalation fans gave Tina a small sense of calm. She was in the basement, gripping a large lock cutter in her hands. She looked around, trying to pick up any sign of the Master, but there was nothing here at all, just debris and cleaning materials. Just to be sure, she went on toward a flickering light.

If there was anyone down here, they would have had to come through the outside entracne, because Tina had locked and chained the basement door.The only way out was through the elevator, which she had left behind at least five minutes ago.

Tina went cautiously forward into the flickering light. There was a mess of large electrical cords on the ground, the kind that connected to generators. The flickering was coming from two overhead lamps, one of which was sputtering. There was a chain fence in between Tina and the other side of the basement. She gave a breath of releif and had just made up her mind to get the hell out of the basement, when something made her look closer at the other side. It looked like the dark had moved.

But that was impossible...or was it.

There he stood, the Master, this time holding a deadly looking axe. He picked up one of the cable that was connected to the generator and dragged the axe blade across the covering. The frayed cord now sputters.

It was only then that Tina realized that she was standing in a poool of water which had been formed by a still leaking pipe. She swore loudly and backed away, and tripped over the large jumble of unused cords.

Tina desperatley tried to free her feet, but she only succeded in getting them caught even more. In a last ditch effort, she snapped several of the cords with the lock cutter. She scampered backwards just as the Master threw the frayed cord through the chain fence. It landed in the puddle and sent sparks and electricity into the air.

Tina screamed and got shakily to her feet. She'd escaped possible death once more. It was only then, as she ran back, did she realize that this was the sort of thing she had had nightmares about. As a matter of fact, she'd had a nightmare that was dead similar to this when she'd first gotten her internship at the hospital.

Shaking the thought from her head, Tina made it to the elevator and then got out on the first floor waiting room. There were only three people in here. A janitor, and two receptionists. There were no visitors this late at night. Ignoring the baffled looks the others gave her, Tina ran out of the door and into the night.

ooOOOooOOOoo

From their observation point at the security desk, Riley and Margie had watched Tina run out the front door.

It gave them some relief to think that she'd escaped whatever she was running from, but neither of them felt right about it. Margie had just finished calling in extra security men to patrol all the hallways, when Riley remembered Bella.

"I'd better go up and see how she's doing." he told Margie. She nodded and then returned to her horror movie. In the elevator, Riley rubbed his forehead in exhaustion. It had turned into a very long week.

He had just got out on the fifth floor and was walking through the hallway, when he heard a muffled scream from a nearby room. Riley burst into the room, but there was nobody there. Then he realized where the scream was coming from.

From the window, he could see into the courtyard of the hospital. Tina had just run into it, looking around her.

"Tina!" Riley yelled, banging his hand on the window. She didn't look up. " Tina! TINA!! TINA!! TI-" Riley's hand broke the glass. He ignored the pain and yelled as loud as he could. "TIIIINNNAAA!!"

She looked up. Riley's face went pale.

"TINA BEHI-" Too late. Tina didn't even get a chance to scream before the axe swung through her neck, severing her head. Riley let out a cry of anguish and covered his face with his blooding hands. He was gasping with dry sobs, when there came a soft tap on the glass.

Riley let his hand fall. He yelled and fell back. Floating in the air on the other side of the window was a black shape, holding up Tina's head by the hair. Riley squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. The shape was gone. Stealing himslef, Riley looked out the window and saw that Tina's head had just hit the ground next to her body.

He could her other people shouting in the hallway. Victoria ran passed him and said something, but Riley ignored her and simply walked to his office.

Bella was huddled in the corner of his bed. Of course, his window looked out over the court yard as well. She must have seen Tina's death.

He pulled up a chair and sat beside her.

For a moment, there was nothing but silence between them.

"I want you to tell me everything." Riley said firmly.

Bella looked up. "Why would you believe me now?" she asked.

"Because I just saw something floating in the air holding Tina's head. I think I'm ready to hear the whole story Bella."

Bella took a deep breath and then looked out the window before turning back to him.

"I moved to Forks about a year ago." she began. 'I met Edward Cullen and his family. They fascinated me. They all seemed so strangely unreal, but I had no idea why. To make a long story short, Edward saved my life about twice, and I was able to put two and two together after coming back from a beach party in La Push."

"And what did you find out?" Riley asked.

Bella closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath. "They were...vampires." she said. Quickly she opened her eyes. Riley's expression was unreadable. "They were different from the vampires that Hollywood created. They could be out in the day, but in direct sunlight or else they would sparkle like diamonds in the sky. They drank animal blood as an alternative to humans. Edward and I were in love."

Her voice shook slightly as she went on. "A lot of stuff happened, but we managed to keep ourselves together until about seven months ago. After my birthday party, where their weakness to human blood was exposed again, Edward said that we weren't going to work out...that he didn't want me anymore." Bella gulped. "I was in shock after that."

Riley's face was still unreadable. After a minute or two, he got up and looked out the window. He could see police and paramedics on the scene.

He shook his head, and then turned back to Bella.

"I believe you." he said. "But now the question remains. What exactly are these things that keep coming after you?"

Bella shrugged. "I have no idea _what _they are, but two of them resemble Edward and Rosalie, his sister."

"And what do they do to you exactly?"

"Well, Rosalie makes really catty remarks. She makes me feel like I can't do anything...that I can't really do anything and never could."

"Doubt." Riley said.

Bella nodded. "And Edward...well, he's exactly the opposite of what Edward was to me. In a way he's everything I'm afraid of Edward becoming."

"Fear." Riley said again. Bella looked at him with a comprehensive look. "What about this one thing that killed Tina? Is it the same thing that was chasing you the other night?"

"Yes."

"And I'll bet anything that it was the same thing responsible for Marshall's death...death...that's it! It's Death!"

Bella frowned for a minute. "I don't understand." she said. "I ran right through it the other night. Why can't it touch me?"

"Probably because you're not afraid of Death. Riley deduced, sitting down. "You're more afraid of Edward being cruel and hating you, which is why Fear takes his form."

"And Rosalie?"

"How was she around you?"

"Spiteful."

"Well there you go. Doubt takes the form of the person who always doubted you. For some people they see doubt as themselves."

"But why does Death go after other people?" Bella asked.

"Because, it feeds the Doubt and Fear you have inside." Riley smiled bitterly. "You've heard that saying "Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself? Well for you, it's more of a reverse. Fear of the thing only increases fear of death. Death targets others to make Doubt make you feel guilty, and Fear make you afraid of Death. Does that make sense?"

"I guess so." Bella bit her lip. "But then, why did it only happen now?"

"I have no idea. Maybe because you've been exposed to the supernatural world."

They stared at each other for a long moment, before Bella sighed heavily.

"What did Death look like when you saw it?" she asked.

Riley leaned back in his chair. "It looked like a human covered in black material."

"That's just what it looked like to me." Bella said. "I mean, I was just thinking that, since Death is going after others, it might appear to them as what they fear the most."

"Sort of like a cross between a boggart and a dementor." Riley mused, remembering reading Harry Potter a few years ago. "It shows you what you're afraid of and maked you feel like you can't do anything.That's a pretty good theory. I remember Tina telling me once that she always hated those horror movies where the girls gets chased through an empty building before being killed."

He sighed and glanced at the clock. It was two o clock in the morning. "Well, you better get some sleep. You can stay here. I have to go talk to Victoria about something."

Bella nodded and then walked over to the bed. Riley was at the door when she asked on last question.

"Who is she? That woman in the picture."

Riley froze. "That's my wife Jenna."

"Where is she?"

"Dead."

"Oh, I'm sorry. What happened."

Riley kept his voice even as he answered. "She jumped off the roof of this hospital when I couldn't help her." With that, he left the room and locked the door behind him.

oooOOoooOOooo

**Phew, there we go. I know it's a little horrible what I did to Tina, but that always happens. I'm gonna off a character, I start liking them, and then they wind up surviving. Let me know what you think.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yes it's me, it's meeeeeeee!! I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in a long time, but I had writers block and some of my interest in Twilight was sapped when I read the rather ominous information for Breaking Dawn on wikipedia. I'm really nervous about what's going to happen to Bella. **

**In other news, I managed to procure the special edition of Eclipse, and obviously I put Team Edward onto a yellow shirt that I bought immediatley after. **

**Anyway, in this chapter I'm going to focus a little bit more on Riley, and there's going to be some new characters introduced. I suppose I should say that i'm watching the Spice Girls documentary on youtube while writing this. I have the oddest creative stimulance.**

**ooo000ooo000ooo000ooo000ooo000ooo**

Riley shuffled quickly down the corridor, his eyes out of focus. He was only vaguely aware of the noises of the police and other doctors from down the hall.

As a professional, he would have doubted what he had just seen and what Bella had just told him. He normally would have diagnosed her and locked her up. But as of now, he was certain that she was in danger.

He had no clue where he was going. All he knew was that he needed somewhere to go to think. Somebody to talk to or even just an inanimate object.

He looked up. He was close to the end of the hall way. Victoria was standing there, her face starkly white and talking to two police officers. She looked up.

_Oh fuck me._ Riley thought bitterly.

"Riley, get over here." Victoria said tensely. Riley walked the rest of the way and stood next to Victoria, and faced the two officers.

"These officers want to know exactly what you saw." Victoria said.

Riley tooka deep breath. "Some freak in a mask chopped off Tina's head." he said flatly.

"White mask?" one of the officers asked, taking out a note pad and a pen. "What exactly did it look like?"

"Well," Riley continued, slightly more flustered than before. "It...it looked sort of like a lop sided happy face. It was fucking creepy. And it looked more like a potato sack than a mask."

The officer was scribbling speedily over the notepad. After a few minutes he took a look at the paper and grimaced.

"Did it look something like this?" he asked, holding up the notepad. Riley nodded, surpressing a satisfied smile. The drawing on the note pad resembled the mask worn by one of the killers in that new horror movie.

"Yeah...that's it." he said quietly, convincingly looking sorrowful and fearful.

"Did you notice anything else?" the other officer asked.

"Not a lot. It was too dark to see what they were wearing."

"Thank you. Victoria, we'll be in touch in the morning."

Victoria nodded and the officers left. She watched them walk down the hall. Once they were in the elevator, she turned to Riley.

For the first time in his entire years of knowing her, Riley was shocked by the expression on Victoria's face. She looked...was it possible? ... sympathetic?

"Riley," she sighed, "you'd better come in here."

Riley followed her, keeping his head down. Victoria took a seat behind her desk and turned to look at him.

"This can't be easy for you." she said finally. "I mean...all this in just a year and a half? I'm worried about you."

Riley finally looked up. Victoria was looking genuinely concerned.

"I'm...well, I'm not feeling like a kid at Disneyland right about now, but I'm doing okay."

"No you're not." Victoria said a little more sharply. "I've been in this business for twenty five years. I can tell when people are evading the truth."

There was a silence for a minute.

"So what are suggesting?" Riley asked. "That I be releaved of duty or something like that?"

"No...I'm suggesting that you might not be okay enough to do this alone."

Riley stood up.

''You're gonna give me a partner?" he asked, his voice shaking.

"Yes." Victoria said simply. "As a matter of fact, I have just the person in mind."

"What if I refuse?"

"Then I will releave you of duty."

They stared at each other harshly. Riley was about to say that he wouldn't mind that right about now, but then he remembered what Bella had told him. Any other person might lock her away.

So he simply sighed and slumped back into his chair.

"I'm doing this because I'm worried about you." Victoria added more gently. "Jenna jumped off of that roof, and with all the crap going on around here, I'm surprised that you haven't locked yourself away."

She stood up and picked up her phone and turned to the wall. She muttered so indistinclty that he couldn't make out what she was saying. After a few minutes, she said goodbye and turned to a cabinet where she kept medicine.

She shoved a bottle over to him.

"Sleeping pills?" Riley asked.

"Yes. Just so you can actually sleep easier. And, "she added significantly, "I've taken the liberty of calling in your partner. She'll be here tomorrow."

"She?"

"Yes Riley, she. Now, goodnight."

Riley stood up, grabbed the bottle of pills and walked out of Victoria's office and back to his office. Bella was curled up on his bed, fast asleep. He set the sleeping pills next to her and then sat in the chair, attempting to make himself a little more comfortable.

He really wanted to sleep, but on the other hand he didn't want to let Victoria know that she'd won him over.

Therefore, he took to looking aimlessly at the walls, wondering just who the heck his partner was.

Maybe he could make it miserable for her, or just show her around and make her creeped out about the other patients in the hospital.

He was walking down a dim hall. There was a door at the end, light filtering out from under it. He opened the door.

He was standing in a large room, with christmas decorations all around. Jenna was sitting under the tree, opening presents all alone.

A lump came to his throat. He knew this. She'd told him about this before she'd gone to the hospital.

He watched as Jenna opened present after present. Some of them weren't really suited for her, such as an expensive drill and a large green house coat.

The scene changed. Now he was standing in the kitchen, watching himself talking rapidly to Jenna about treating a patient with electro shock therapy.

He noticed her touch her stomach and then excuse herself from the table.

Now he was standing in the bedroom. Again, he was talking to Jenna about working at the hospital. She looked up at him and then smiled.

"I'm pregnant." she whispered.

The scene changed. He saw himself sitting anxiously in a chair in the hall of a hospital. A doctor came out and muttered something to him.

He saw himself put his head in his hands.

Jenna was in the attic, rocking an old crib back and forth. He came up and looked over her shoulder, a look of mingled disgust and pity coming over his features.

Now Jenna was in the psych hospital. She was looking dully out the window, clutching an old doll. She stood up and slowly walked out of the opened door.

"Wait!" he called.

She didn't stop, but continued to walk out the door.

"Jenna...please!"

Jenna turned.

"You don't care." she whispered, before continuing to walk down the hall way.

He was standing in front of her body...and he was screaming in anguish.

"Riley...RILEY!!" he felt a sharp slap and woke up.

Bella was leaning over him, looking worried and scared. Riley got a grip on himself and sat up. Sunlight was filtering through the windows. It was nine in the morning.

Shaking himself, Riley stood up and got a glass of water.

"Are you okay?" Bella asked.

"Yeah...I'm alright..." he breathed.

There was an awkward pause for several moments.

"Are those for me?" Bella asked, prodding the sleeping pills.

Riley shook his head and took a gulp of water.

"No, those were given to me by Victoria. She wants me to start taking them." He took another drink of water, staring out the window. There was no point in keeping it from Bella. "And...she's assigning me a partner."

"What? Who?"

"I have no idea. A woman. She's probably going to be here any minute."

Bella looked at him fearfully. "Should...should I tell her?"

Riley shook his head and set the glass down. He turned to her.

"She'll not only rat me out as being un able to perform my job, but she'll reccomend that you be locked away for the next twenty years."

Anger flashed through him and he continued un-necessarily. "No doubt she's probably some fourty year old cow named Dolores who has a lot of cats and rats out everyone she can."

"Actually," came a pleasant voice from the door. Bella and Riley whipped around. "She's a twenty two year old pixie named Alexa who has a malamute and hates ratting people out."

A woman was standing in the door. She was petite and very pretty, her blonde brown hair was straight and hung to her shoulders. Oddly enough, she was dressed casually in black jeans and a blue sweatshirt.

Alexa continued, "She'd also like to know what the hell you guys are trying to hide from me."

**oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

**Okay, there. It's a little short, and for that I'm sorry. So what do you think of it? I really didn't intend for Victoria to be so understanding. **

**Theres a poster for this story on my profile if you're interested. It's not exactly masterful, but it's okay. **

**If you're a little disappointed by this chapter, don't worry. The next one's gonna be better, I promise. **

**Also, I hope you got the reference to the mask that Riley made it up. I haven't seen the Strangers, but I do think that that mask is really creepy.**

**Please review and be kind. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Alright Oprah. This is it. I am going to update like there is no freaking tomorrow. Now that it's summer, I'm going to focus on getting this story finished for both you and me. I'm going to be making major renovations to my stories page. I'm deleting Tower of Samhain and more than likely Jacob Black Must Die. I have a lot of ideas I want to get out, so here we go.**

**oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

Bella and Riley glanced at each other nervously. alexa simply stood there, her arms folded, waiting for an answer. Finally, after a few seconds, Riley gave a small cough.

"We were just talking about...these sleeping pills." he said with as much bravado as he could.

Alexa raised her eyebrows.

"Really? What about them?"

"Well, I was considering giving them to Bella without telling Victoria."

He expected her to look angry and march off to Victoria's office. Instead she looked at the bottle of sleeping pills, considering the idea.

"From what I hear, it might help." Alexa said. Then she shook her hair out of her face. "Well, I'd better get going to my room. Pray for me." she added.

"Why?" Bella asked.

Alexa smirked. "I'm a young attractive doctor in the middle of a murder mystery. The chances that I'm going to make it out of this are about is probable as vampires exisitng." she turned on her heel and walked out of the room.

Riley and Bella looked at each other once again, both feeling incredibly helpless at the moment.

After a minute, Bella said "What happens now? I mean, with Tina gone, there really aren't any options left are there?"

Riley clenched his jaw.

"I'll talk to Victoria about that." he said, getting up. "Are you going to be okay by yourself?"

Bella nodded.

Riley walked back to Victoria's office and knockec.

"Come in." she said.

Riley opened the door and took a seat.

"Ah, there you are." Victoria said. "I was just going to send for you."

"You were?"

"Yes, I wanted to know how you like Alexa."

"She's alright. I was expecting-"

"You were expecting a forty year old woman named Dolores who lives with a lot of cats?" Victoria joked.

Riley gaped at her.

"Yes, actually that's exactly what I said."

Victoria chuckled. "Alexa will be good for both you and Bella. She's incredibly helpful. Now," she sat forward a little, "what did you want to see me about?"

"With Tina gone, who's going to take care of Bella?" Riley asked.

Victoria frowned and then clicked around on her computer.

"How about Wade?" she said.

Riley raised his eyebrows.

"He's not that bad." Victoria said.

Riley sighed. "If you say so."

Victoria chuckled. "I'll make sure he behaves." she said. "Now, you'd better get some more sleep."

Riley nodded and walked out. He would have to tell Bella that she had to go back to her room.

An hour later, after Bella had gotten settled in her room on the fourth floor, Riley decided not to go to sleep. He was actually rather hungry. Passing the police, who were still investigating, he went down the elevator, said hello to Margie and went to the cafeteria.

Alexa was sitting at a table, reading "Hell House" by Richard Matheson.

_Is she for real?_ he thought, going to the counter and getting a BLT and some Cola. Deciding that it was now or never, he went over to Alexa's table and sat next to her.

"Hi." he said.

Alexa, who had been so engrossed in the book, gave a yelp and looked up at him.

"Don't ever do that again." she gasped. Then, recovering, she smiled and said "what's up?"

"I was just wondering why you're reading a book like that under these circumstances." he said.

Alexa smiled. "These are the only kinds of books that I find entertaining. My mother was always freaked out by the fact that I was reading Dean Koontz instead of Harlequinn Romance."

Riley chuckled. " I love Dean Koontz. He's a little more realistic than Stephen King."

"I know." Alexa said. "There's a lot of science in his work."

Riley smiled to himself at how easy it was to talk to her.

"Victoria is assigning an intern to check in on Bella once in a while." he said.

"Who?" Alexa asked.

"His name's Wade. He's one of the young guys here. He's known for his tendency to take the temperature of the other female interns."

Alexa scoffed. "And Victoria's trusting him?"

Riley shrugged. "Her methods haven't always taken the best turn."

"I know." Alexa admitted. "Take me for example."

"What do you mean?" Riley asked.

Alexa set the book down and took a sip of her iced tea and stared out the window.

"I...I'm not exactly sure I'm mentally fit myself." she said with a wry laugh. "It's stupid, but I've been seeing this woman everywhere. She's dressed in dark red and black and she has a pale, pointed face. Everytime I look back...she's gone."

Alexa chuckled, unawarw that Riley was gaping at her.

"When...when did you start seeing this woman?" he asked.

"About a week ago. After my sister died, I tried to overdose on sleeping pills and...well, that's when it started happening."

She turned to face Riley and was shocked to see that he'd gone pale.

"What?" she asked in concern.

"What would you say if I told you that vampires were real?" Riley questioned hesitantly.

**oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

Bella had been sleeping when she heard her door open. With her eyes squeezed shut, she prayed that it wasn't Nightmare Edward and Rosalie.

However, it was a pleasant voice that called her name.

"Bella? Are you awake?"

Bella sat up and looked around. A young man in a blue intern suit and curly black hair had entered.

"I am now." she said.

"My name's Wade." he said, "and I'm taking over for Tina."

Bella nodded and fell back into her pillows.

"Can I get you anything?" Wade asked.

Bella shook her head. She'd been dreaming about Edward.

Wade sat down on the chair at the end of Bella's bed and moved it a little closer.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Lousy.'' Bella muttered, indicating that she wanted to try and get back to sleep.

Wade frowend. "Bella...I know what you're going through." Bella glared at him. "No seriously, I do. My older brother comitted suicide when I was fourteen. I really looked up to him and I was so upset that I slashed my wrists."

"Really?" Bella asked.

"Yeah." Wade looked away, evidentally overcome. "My mom freaked out and had me sent to a hospital for about a week."

"Oh Wade!" Bella cried, sitting up and giving him a hug. Unknown to her, Wade smirked.

Bella still had her arms around Wade when he moved his hand to her shirt and slid it up her back.

"What the hell!" she cried trying to pull away. Wade pushed her down and bent over her. Bella struggled and kicked, but he was too strong.

His face was inches from hers when he was tugged violently backward.

"Get out of here you asshole!" Alexa shouted. And without and preamble, she flung him out of the door so roughly that he slammed into the wall outside and hit the ground.

Alexa slammed the door shut and turned to Bella, who was lying on her bed with her eyes shut.

"Bella..." Alexa said tentativley.

Bella gave a snarl of rage and sat up.

"I've had it!" she screamed! "This is the final straw!! I'm getting out of her even if it kills me!"

"Which it probably will." Alexa said. "You're no vampire, so how the heck are you going to get back to Forks?"

Bella goggled at her.

"Riley told me everything." she said.

"And you believe him?" Belle whispered.

Alexa nodded. "I've heard worse from far older people. Besides, all the crap going on around here makes a little more sense now."

Bella sighed and leaned back.

"What am I supposed to do if they come back?" she asked.

Alexa handed her a small, round black object with a red button in the middle.

"What?" Bella asked in confusion.

"It's an automatic call button. I gave one to Riley. If you need anything or are in trouble, just press the red button."

Bella nodded.

"Thank you." she sighed.

"No problem. Now, go back to sleep." with that, Alexa walked out of the room and looked up and down the hall.

Wade was no where to be seen.

"Chicken shit." she muttered, walking to the elevator.

**oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

**There we go. I know these last two chapters have had no action, but believe me, it's going to pick up in the next one majorly.**

**I referenced Hell House by Richard Matheson because I think it's the most brilliant haunted house story ever written. It scared the crap out of me and I couldn't sleep for three days. **

**Please review and thank you to all those who have so far.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay here we go. Got my caffene and playlist. Time to get to work. After this chapter there are four left and believe my, a lot will happen. I know it seems kinda short, but it's how I always planned it. By the way, Wade's personality is based on my Dad's girlfriend's nineteen year old son.**

**oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

Wade was fuming as he walked down the dark hall way. He had been fired. Thanks to that bitch Alexa. Why the hell couldn't Bella have just gone along with it? All the female interns had.

And now he was fired.

This had been a good job. It was also a great place to get jobs. He chuckled at his dirty mind and jabbed the elevator button.

It was perfectly quiet as he got out on the fourth floor. He had one little stop to make before he was going anywhere.

As he walked, he felt an ominous feeling on the back of his neck. Turning, he saw a little girl standing behind him. The shock of seeing someone here, expecially after all the crap that had happened made Wade jump a little.

She looked about five or six years old and had light blonde hair and a very cute face.

"Are you okay?" Wade asked, kneeling down.

"Oh, yes." she said, her voice matching her almost seraphim appearance.

"Are you lost?"

"Nope."

Wade looked inquisitivley at the girl. She just smiled almost cheekily back at him.

"Well...do you need any help?" he asked.

She shook her head.

Wade shrugged and got up, walking away. He'd taken about three steps when the little girl spoke again.

"Why did you have to hurt that other girl?" she asked.

Wade spun around. "What other girl?"

"The one in that room." she pointed to Bella's door. Wade stared at her.

"I didn't" he said.

"Yes you did." she insisted. "You shouldn't lie you know. People who lie get in trouble."

Wade just stared at her in disbelief. Then he jerked his head around. He'd heard a small little laugh from somewhere at the end of the hall.

"What the hell was that?"

The little girl giggled. And it was the most haunting giggle Wade had ever heard. For the first time in a very long time, he began to be afraid.

The girl giggled again.

"They're he-ere!" she chanted. There was another noise, a sharp bang that caused Wade to jump and spin around.

But there was nothing there.

He turned back to the girl to find that she had vanished into thin air.

"What the fuck?" he breathed. There was a sharp screech of metal on metal and Wade once again looked around. Only this time there was something there.

A figure, half obscured in shadow, was dragging it's razor fingers across the wall. Giving a yell, Wade turned tail and ran, scampering right passed Bella's room.

**oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

Bella had been fast asleep when she heard Wade yell. She opened her eyes and scanned the dark room. There was nothing there...yet.

Then she saw to flickering pairs of red, luminous eyes in the wall. She knew who would come out of there in next to no time. She reached under her pillow, pulled out the call button and pressed it.

"Hello Bella." Nightmare Edward said with a leer.

"What the fuck do you want?" Bella said with a snarl. Edward chuckled.

"The same thing we've wanted every night."

He leaned closer, his red eyes inches from her own.

"Your mind." he whispered.

**oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

Riley and Alexa had been in Riley's room, talking and going over what they would do if Bella called, when both their buzzers vibrated.

"Bella." Riley said.

Alexa nodded and the two of them stood up and headed down the stairs to the fourth floor.

They both paused on the landing.

They could hear yelling.

Together, they pushed through the door and looked around. There was a dark stretch in front of them, the same one that Bella had encountered nights ago.

Fortunately, they were prepared for such an occasion. Both took out flash lights and shone them into the darkness. The light seemed to cut through and light up parts of the hall that it touched.

Riley and Alexa ran through and bumped smack dab into Wade, who looked utterly terrified.

"What?!" Riley asked.

Wade only cried out in reply and tried to run through the darkness, but stopped.

Riley and Alexa all saw it.

To Riley, it looked exactly as the Master had when he had seen Tina killed.

To Alexa, it was the woman she had been seeing for the past week.

To Wade, it was a white mass of nothing that had an evil face.

He let out a scream and fell against the wall.

"Go get Bella!!" Alexa said. Riley nodded and stood up, reaching Bella's room in a few seconds. She was huddled in the corner when he turned the light on.

"Let's go!" Riley said, taking her by the arm and leading her down the hall.

Wade was pressed against the wall, and Alexa was merely sitting on the ground staring up at the Master, when it disappeared into thin air.

All four stared at the spot where the Master had been.

Alexa was about to stand up, when she gave a scream.

"WADE BEHIND YOU!!"

Wade had only time to look up at her when he was pulled through the wall by a black hand.

Without hesitation, Riley ran around the other side, Bella and Alexa following him.

They turned the corner. There was nothing.

"I guess he's gone." Riley said quietly.

Before any of them could so much as take a breath, something was thrown out of the wall. With a sickening thud, it landed in front of them.

"Oh my god!" Alexa choked out, turning away from the sight in front of them. Bella let out a stangled sob and looked away. Riley himself felt sick.

Wade was lying in front of them.

Or what had been Wade. Now it looked like a high school biology study gone wrong. The body was inside out, it's muscle exposed.

With a sickening squealsh, it disappeared into thin air.

**oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

Riley was sitting at his computer now. Alexa and Bella were sitting behind him, both trying to calm down and pay attention to the children's show that they were watching, seeing as nothing else that was on this late was any good.

His hands shook as he typed a heading into the search engine. The first five pages were utterly useless. Just information on how to rid yourself of personal issues.

On the sixth page he found something very likely looking.

"Ghosts of the mind." He said. Then he read the description. " How to become dis-illusioned. God damn it." He tried again.

He tried every heading he could think of until Bella and Alexa had fallen asleep.

Finally, in frustration, he typed in the words "demons" "Master" "greastest fears." and clicked search.

There were two items.

One was a movie review for the movie "Phantoms" and the other was from a paranormal website. Riley clicked on this one and began to read.

_Of the many things the human mind is afflicted with, the worst seems to be our greatest fears. Many people pass these on as phobia's, but for the delicate and mentally fragile, they can turn into much worse things. Those who are classified with a mental displacement tend to see things that take the shape of their greatest fears. _

_For some, it's death, or the master fear. But for others, there are certain emotions, such as Abandonment, Neglect, and Hate. These are known as Malignancies and are the things that normal people don't like to think about._

_In many cases, these Mind Demons can cause a person to commit suicide. In fact, a paranormal study was given to people who had experienced suicide in their families. Sixty per cent of the people interviewed said that they felt some form of a Malignancy at one point after the death._

_Could suicide be a link in these problems? Only those unfortunate enough to have experienced it can tell us._

_By Wesley Wyndam Price_

Riley was staring at the screen.

This was more than he had ever thought he would find.

The phone rang. Riley jumped a foot in the air and answered it.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hello. This is Carlisle Cullen." the voice answered.

"Oh..." Riley blinked.

"I was just calling to check on Bella, to see how she's doing."

"She's in the hospital" Riley said bluntly.

The bravado and profession in the voice was lost as Carlisle replied " WHAT!? What happened?"

Riley narrowed his eyes. "Is this Edward?" he asked on a hunch.

There was silence for about three seconds.

"Yes." Edward admitted.

" I thought so." Riley sighed. " About ten days ago, Bella tried to kill herself by cutting her arm with a knife."

"Oh no." Edward's voice shook. "This is all my-"

"So we brought her here." Riley continued.

"Where?"

"The West Seattle Psychiatric Hospital,"

"Psychiatric? What?" Edward sounded lost.

"Yes. Bella's dad was thinking about getting her professional help and after she cut herself they brought her here." Riley said without any compassion for Edward's emotional frame.

"God dammit!" Edward said. "I thought she's understand."

"Understand what?" Riley asked, getting a little pissed off.

"When I told her that I didn't love her. I was lying to protect her from Victoria."

"Who the hell is Victoria." Riley said flatly. Then he remembered. "Oh wait, that other vampire that's after Bella. Wow, I really didn't know that she wanted revenge that badly for what happened to James."

Edward was in stunned silence.

"I'm Bella's psychiatrist." he continued. "And I think I'm quite justified in saying that you royally fucked up Bella's life by leaving."

"I know."

"No, I don't think you do." Riley said a little more forcefully. " You see, there wasn't anything wrong with Bella when she first came here. But now she's being terrorized by the Malignancies."

"The what?"

" As she describes them, personal demons brought to life. Not only that, but they killed three interns here."

"They're real?" Edward asked in astonishment.

"Yes, they are." Riley replied. "Now, would you be so kind as to get your aristocratic ass back here and _help_ her."

"I'm on my way." Edward said. "But tell her that Emmett and Rosalie tracked Victoria down and killed her."

"Whatever." Riley sighed.

"Thank you." Edward said.

"Bite me." Riley answered, hanging the phone up and massaging his temples.

He was suddenly aware that he was very tired.

He was just about to sit down to sleep, when he became aware that Bella was watching him. The look on her face told him she had just heard his entire conversation.

"If you wanna talk about it, wait until morning." he said tiredly.

"Whatever." Bella answered, shifting and closing her eyes.

**ooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

**There we go! Chapter 8!! Thanx to di!4 and mixz for the reviews. I know this seems a little sudden, but as I said, I want to get this out for you guys.**

**A few things to note. First of all, the little girl is modelled after Heather O'Rourke from the Poltergeist movies. It's really quite sad what happened to her, so I dedicate that little scene to her.**

**Also, I chose Wesley from the Angel show as the one who wrote the article because he was the first person who jumped into my mind. And the term "Malignancies" also came from a Buffy comic called "Stake to the Heart."**

**In the next chapter, more details about the Malignancies are flushed out, and Bella and Alexa are stalked.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hehehehe...I feel like Stephen King. You know...forever bound to a typewriter, writing stories from now until Judgement Day. Seriously...I'm chained to my computer desk right now. I think I'll stop with this chapter tonight and do the last three tomorrow. **

**oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

Bella woke up the next morning feeling slightly dazed and noticed that the T.V. was on, playing an old episode of Katie and Orby.

"I wanted a distraction, not an abortion." she said, turning it off and heading to the computer. She shook the mouse. Her eyes widened. Riley hadn't closed the browser and she was looking at the article he had read last night.

She scanned it and felt a small lifting of her heart. It felt so much better to know that she wasn't the only one experiencing these problems.

Bella back tracked a little and went to the search engine. She typed in "mind remedies." Most of the searches were about yoga and meditation and really didn't help. She put the word "supernatural" in front of what she'd already typed.

This time, there were a few promising searches. Most of them were to do with wicca and calling the corners. But one in particular caught her eyes.

"Para-psychology." she read. The website was surprisingly clean for a supernatural site. It was a light blue page with star signs, triquetras and crosses on the border.

"Let's see," Bella mused, ''telepathy, empathy, etheric projection...what the hell is that?"

Out of curiosity, she clicked the link to etheric projection and was taken to a different page. There was an illustration of a girl lying in her bad and a transparent version of her hovering above her body.

Bella didn't notice Alexa and Riley wake up and lean in closer to see what she was doing. It was only when Alexa gave a big yawn, did she jump and turn around.

She calmed down and turned back to the screen and began to read the article.

_Of all the unknown practices used to divine ones-self, etheric projection is the least known and least used. Many who claim to have out of body experiences say that they feel as though they are a ghost walking around and able to communicate with others or physical objects._

_These people seem to be coma tose patients, unconcious victims or deep sleepers. However, etheric projection can also be achieved through intense focus and concentration._

_Indeed, in early Indian cultures, during intense exorcisms, shamans would use etheric projection to battle the spirits and vanquish them._

Bella stopped reading and turned to Alexa and Riley, who were staring at her.

Then Riley stood up straight and began to pace.

"So you have to use this etheric projection to fight the Malignancies?" he said.

"It's a start." Bella said. "But what the hell am I supposed to do, stab them or something."

"Maybe." Alexa shrugged.

Bella shook her head. "I don't think that would work. I could certainly fight them more easily in the etheric plain, but I don't think they're ghosts."

Riley turned to her. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I think they're from my mind. They said that that was what they wanted from me."

"In other words they want you to loose your mind." Alexa said tensely. "You can't let them win that way. You said that the two that resembled your boyfriend and his sister could touch things right?"

"Right."

"And that other one. The big bad."

"The Master." Riley provided.

"Yeah, that one. He's the one that can't really touch you physically."

Bella nodded.

"Then maybe you can defeat the other two with your etheric self. The Master might be able to touch you in that state, so he's the one that's going to be the toughest to defeat."

They all stared at each other for a minute.

Then Riley's cell phone rang.

"Hello...Victoria? Yes...she's with me and Alexa...you what! Oh...okay..." he hung upon, looking put upon. "She wants me to see her in her office right now. She says that you have to go back to your room."

Bella rolled her eyes.

"I'll go with you. Just let me get something from my room and then I'll come back and get you."

She and Riley walked out of Riley's room.

"What's wrong?" Alexa asked. Riley looked worried.

"I think Victoria's going to fire me." he said.

"Why?"

"Because Bella's gotten out of her room too many times." he shook his head. "If she does, make sure that you help Bella as much as possible."

"She won't fire you." Alexa said emphatically.

"She could."

"Well she's not." And with that, she kissed him.

Riley was stunned for a few seconds, and was about to respond when Alexa broke the kiss and walked hurredly to her room.

Riley watched her and then walked to Victoria's office door.

Alexa returned to Riley's room a few moments later with a book.

"What's that for?" Bella asked.

"It's the Idiot's Guide to Meditation." she said distractedly. "And boy am I an idiot." she added under her breath, thinking of what she'd just done.

Bella laughed and walked with Alexa to the elevator. They went to Bella's room together and for the next several hours, they practiced meditating.

**oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

"You're...promoting me?" Riley asked Victoria in a stunned voice. He blinked several times.

"That's right." Victoria said. "I spoke to one of my friends in Florida and they said that they needed someone in the psychiatric ward at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. You'll be able to treat celebrities."

Riley just stared at her.

"What about Bella?" he asked after a while.

"Well, Alexa can take care of her." Victoria answered.

Riley bit his lip. Cedars-Sinai was the most prostegeous hospitals on the West Coast. And he was being offered the opportunity to go there. Yet how could he leave Bella behind now, when they were so close to stopping the Malignancies.

Besides, he felt that getting rid of his past issues was somehow tied to curing Bella.

"Riley?" Victoria asked after a while.

Riley got a grip on himself.

"I...I suppose. But...can it wait for at least three more days?"

Victoria looked taken aback, but nodded.

"Alright," she said, "you can stay here for three more days if you want. But you're going to have to fill out this paperwork."

From her desk, she pulled out a sizeable amount of papers.

"And you're also going to have to help with the transference information."

Riley sighed, took a pen from Victoria's desk, and set about fillinf out the forms, realizing that he wouldn't be getting out of here for a while.

**oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

"One more time." Alexa said in slight frustration. "Breath in deeply, and out slowly."

Bella complied, closing her eyes and breathing as instructed.

Alexa watched silently, hoping that this time Bella would get it this time.

It was almost sunset and they had been practicing for hours. Bella was always screwing up the meditation by laughing or simply not wanting to comply.

Now however, she seemed to have gotten the jist. She was breathing deeply and evenly. A little too deeply, as a matter of fact.

"Bella?" Alexa said suspicuosly. She leaned forward. Bella didn't stir. "BELLA!"

Bella jumped and looked around wildly.

"Sorry." she mumbled. "I was tired."

"I give up." she said. "There's got to be another way to do this."

Bella groaned."I'm too tired to try anymore voodoo at the moment."

"To be honest, I am too." Alexa admitted. She closed the book and tossed it aside. She stretched and then settled herself more comfortably in the chair. "Mind if I watch T.V?" she asked.

Bella shook her head and then gave a yawn.

Alexa flipped around the channels, looking for something to watch. She settled on "Mommie Dearest" and got a little more comfortable.

Night settled around the hospital. Still, Riley did not return. The movie was now at the infamous hanger scene when Alexa felt a chilling presence.

She turned around and yelped. The Master, in the form of the woman, was looking through the windows. Alexa stood up and shook Bella awake.

Bella stared wildly around and noticed the Master, appearing to her as the black figure.

She slowly stood up next to Alexa. Both woman moved cautiously to the side of the room. In the next moment, the Master had disappeared.

"That was close." Bella sighed.

Alexa just shook her head.

"It's waiting." she breathed.

Bella groaned and then began to shake.

"What are we supposed to do now?" she asked angrily.

"We can't stay here. We're sitting ducks."

"How the hell are we supposed to get around that thing?" Bella demanded.

"I'll go first." Alexa said. "If the coast is clear, I'll signal." Bella rolled her eyes but nodded.

Slowly, Alexa crept up to the door and peered around the corner.

There was nothing there.

She motioned to Bella, who followed her at the elbow. The two walked slowly down the hall, both alert for any sounds of disturbance.

They reached the end of the hall when Alexa again felt the chill run down her spine.

She turned and saw the Master at the other end of the hall.

"RUN!" she yelled. Both turned around and began to run down the dark hall, but Alexa tripped. Bella fell on her knees next to her friend.

There was a chain around Alexa's ankles.

Bella clambered to the bonds and began to pull at them, trying to free Alexa, but it was useless.

Darkness, the un natural thick darkness surrounded them again. Alexa gave a scream as she was jerked backwards and flew through the air.

The chain, which was obviously haunted, pulled up and turned her upside down. She was face to face with the ghostly woman, he was holding a knife.

Bella was screaming from the darkness, sobs escaping her at times.

The Master looked back at the darkness for a brief moment before turning to Alexa.

"Go fuck yourself, bitch." Alexa spat before the Master plunged the knife into her stomach.

The darkness vanished.

Bella heard a thud and looked up.

"NO!" she screamed, running towards the prone figure of Alexa, who was bleeding quite badly. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!" she screamed. She put her hands on Alexa's stomach, trying to find some way she could help, but her hands were shaking so much that she couldn't do anything.

Gasping with anger, fear, and sorrow, she scrambled away from Alexa to her room, blood dripping on the floor and bed and pillows. She pulled the call button out and pressed it.

Remembering how Wade's body had vanished the night before, Bella ran out and was relieved to find that Alexa was still there.

The elevator dinged open.

"Oh fuck." she heard Riley curse from nearby. "God dammit, no. Please." his voice was shaking now. He pulled his phone out and called Victoria.

People, others who meant nothing swarmed the scene. Two interns put Alexa on a stretcher and got her to a room. Bella stood up and, almost in a trance, walked through the throng back to her room.

Silently, she closed the door and looked at her bloody hands. Then she turned and opened a cabinet.

The sleeping pills she'd snuck out of Riley's room were there.

She opened the bottle and poured four into her hand. Without even thinking, she swallowed them and lay on her bed, feeling dazed and distant.

The bottle dropped from her hand, sending pills flying all over the floor.

She heard the door open and Riley walk in.

She heard him curse at what he saw...and then she knew no more.

**oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

**There we go. I'm really sorry about Alexa. But as I said before I did have this planned for a long time. I did change my plan about twice, so you'll find out what happened to her later on.**

**As for Edward, he won't be back until the Epilogue.**

**Please keep the reviews coming. By the way, there are only two chapters left, plus the epilogue. Thank you to my main reviewers, mixz and di14 for your supportive and wonderful comments.**


	11. Chapter 11

**I'm ba-aack!! This chapter is going to focus entirely on Bella. After this, there's only one more full chapter plus the epilogue.**

**oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

Bella felt herself floating in between sleeping and waking. For some reason, the feeling lasted a split second longer than it should of.

She opened her eyes and groaned in frustration.

Sitting up, she saw Riley sitting in a chair, his head in his hands.

"Riley it didn't work." Bella said shakily.

Riley didn't answer.

"Riley...RILEY!!" Riley looked around wildly and peered at a spot just behind Bella.

"Bella?" he said blearily. Then after a few seconds he gave a relieved sigh. ''It worked."

Bella was about to ask him what he was talking about when she noticed something to her left.

Her arm was dangling over the edge of the bed.

Yet she was also aware that she was sitting up with her arms holding her up.

She looked back and blinked.

She was lying in the bed, fast asleep.

It had worked after all.

Bella got up and looked down at her etheric self. She appeared just as solid as she was normally, but she knew that she was invisible to the physical world.

She looked around the room and saw a pencil in the clipboard clip at the end of her bed. She picked it up and then moved to the wall in front of Riley and began to write.

_How do I stop them?_

Riley jumped when he saw the pencil writing of it's own accord, but realizing who was writing he got a grip on himself.

"I think you should focus on the two Malignancies first." he said. "They might be killed if you physically hurt them."

_What about the Master?_

Riley sighed and rubbed his forhead. "I don't know if I can help you witht that." he admitted. "But you said that you think the Master is part of your mind, so maybe you have to deal with him mentally."

Bella let the pencil drop to show that she was leaving and was about to pass through the door when Riley called out to her again.

"Make sure you're in the dark." he said. "Remember that they don't come out in the light."

Bella nodded, even though Riley couldn't see, and walked through the closed door into the hallway.

If she was going to get the lights in the rest of the hospital turned off, she was going to have to talk to Margie about it first.

She was slightly surprised that she hadn't fallen through the floor, but then again, it was a lot less alarming that she hadn't. She took the elevator down to the first floor and walked over to where Margie was seated.

Bella frowned and decided not to alarm the poor woman. She simply stopped over and pressed a red button close to the monitor.

At once all the lights shut off and Margie jumped.

Bella ran for it, up the stairs to the second floor, and stopped on the third floor.

She could see them standing at the other end of the hall, both grinning.

"Well, well, well." Edward said. "She's finally figured it out."

"Too bad you're not going to be around much longer to enjoy it." Rosalie taunted.

"Come and get me mother fucker." Bella spat.

Edward and Rosalie roared with laughter.

"Why would we want to get you?" Edward asked. "You're nothing more than an illusion of the mind."

"Then what does that make you?" Bella retorted.

Edward and Rosalie stared at her, slightly shocked at this logic.

Rosalie regained her composure first.

"Who would you rather save? Yourself or your friend?"

"Alexa's dead." Bella snapped.

"No she's not." Edward said, pointing to a room to Bella's left.

Bella stared hard at them. It was either a trick or a distraction. But her curiosity got the better of her and she turned to look in through the window.

Alexa was lying on a hospital bed, connected to an IV and several tubes.

"Told you." Edward said from right beside her.

"I guess I should learn to trust you more than I have in the past." she said in a small voice.

Edward chuckled.

"Yes, you should."

Bella walked through the door and looked down at Alexa. Then she looked around the room and saw something very likely on a metal cart by the corner.

She turned to face Edward and Rosalie.

"You know the bad thing about me?" she said to them.

"What's that?" Edward asked.

"I'm a very honest person."

"What's so bad about that?" Rosalie asked, blinking.

"Because with a dishonest person, you can always trust them to be dishonest. But with honest people...you never know when they're going to do something incredibly...stupid." And with that she grabbed a large scapel off the cart and stabbed Rosalie in the face.

She gave an un-earthly scream, her mouth gaping wider than normal. Blood, gallons of it, spurted out of her mouth and spewed over the walls and floor.

Rosalie was a shining figure of scarlet. She raised her hand to Edward, and tried to walk to him, but as she did so, she turned into a pool of black and red and was no more.

Edward gave a roar of rage and pinned Bella against the window, his hands around her throat, slowly squeezing the breath out of her.

Knowing that she only had one option, Bella squeezed her eyes shut and leaned back, falling out of the window. Unfortunatley, Edward let go of her as she was falling out and he remained in Alexa's room.

Bella slammed into the ground, but felt no pain. She got up and looked at the third storey window from where she'd fallen.

Without thinking, she got to her foot, ran around the side of the hospital and through the front door.

Margie was conversing in the dark with two security officials and one of the janitors about the power failure.

Bella raced passed them and skidded to halt. She'd seen the red specks in the darkness of the hall leading to the basement.

Slowly, breathing heavily and holding the scapel in front of her, Bella walked towards the red eyes, which got further and further away as she approached them. They were descending the stairs.

Closing her eyes and gathering her courage, Bella followed, the scapel still held in front of her.

Edward's eyes were nowhere to be seen.

But she could feel something on her back and arms.

A lot of somethings.

The arms, the black arms that she hadn't seen for so many nights, were grabbing her and pulling her back.

She stabbed fiercely at them, but it was no use. They weren't physical things.

As she was pulled away from the stairs, lights flickered on and then died.

As she felt herself close to fading away, the lights burst into life, and the arms disappeared.

Catching her breath, Bella stood up and faced the stairs with a new determination.

She walked down, noticing that the returned lights did little to quell the darkness of the basement.

"Where the fuck are you." she whispered under her breath, her senses alert as she walked around. She was so intent on her surroundings that she failed to notice where she was going.

Bella tripped, the scalping flying from her hands and landed face first on the cold cement floor.

She looked down at what was in front of her.

It was a large coil of wire, snaking it's way toward a larger mess of wires in front of a chainlink fence.

She stood up and moved her hand toward where the scapel was, but found nothing.

The next thing she knew, she was pushed violently forward and slammed into the fence. Gasping for breath, she turned to her assailant and felt pain in her shoulder as Edward plunged the scapel into her.

She gave a scream of pain and attempted to push him away, but it was useless.

He smiled evily at her.

"Oh Bella." he sighed mockingly. "Bella, Bella, Bella. I've got to hand it to you. You really know how to fight back but in the end you're right where you started. Utterly useless without your strong vampire boyfriend around you."

Bella sobbed with pain.

Edward cackled. "Boy does this seem farmiliar."

Bella looked down and saw a puddle of water directly behind Edward. At the same time, she noticed a frayed cord plugged into the wall.

Edward laughed again. " You know, if Edward wasn't so pathetic he'd have changed you a long time ago."

"You're wrong." Bella spat.

"And how is that?" Edward teased.

"You just are." Bella said forcefully. Edward took his hands off Bella's arms and laughed heartily.

"That is the most pathetic thing I've ever heard." he said. "If I were you, I would have killed myself ages ago."

Bella lowered her head, her hair falling in front of her face.

"Don't worry." Edward said in a mock-loving voice. "It'll be quick."

"You'll have to tell me about that." Bella whispered. As Edward continued to laugh, Bella suddenly threw her arms forward and pushed him into the puddle. She kicked the frayed cord into the water.

Edwards laugh suddenly turned into a horrible, watery gargling noise as the electricity shot through him.

His eyes widened and he gave a scream of agony as the voltage shot through his non existant form.

Bella pressed herself against the fence. This was definetly not natural.

The electricity was shooting out of Edward,severing his skin, beneath which was nothing but a mass of swirling neon red and black.

He gave one last agonized scream before he burst into a thousand particles, which settled like dust on the ground.

Bella leaned against the fence and clutched at her shoulder, which was still painful.

She closed her eyes and allowed one small tear to leak out before she pulled herself together.

The easy part was over. Now come the hard part.

She walked slowly through the basement, up the stairs and into the elevator and took it to the fifth floor. She walked languidly through the halls, looking like a ghost in her hospital clothes.

Something was pulling her to a certain place.

A place she'd been so many days ago.

She opend the door, the cold air touching her face. Slowly, she walked up the stairs onto the roof.

At the very edge, stood the one person who had been calling to her for the past ten days.

Except he was more visible this time. The black mass was more silver than anything now.

"I'm here." she said loudly. The Master turned around, his face still un-seen but she was sure that he was smiling under the hood.

There was silence between them for a few minutes. Then the Master spoke in a voice that was surprisingly silken and calming.

"Of course you're here, dear Bella. You'd never let me down."

**oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

**There we go!! I wanted to make Nightmare Edward's death a little more gory, some exploding eyeballs and what not, but I decided not to do that right now. **

**So Alexa's not dead. She was originally going to die, but I became too attached to her as I wrote on.**

**And as for the next chapter, get ready for some mind tripping.**

**Please Review.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Okay, here's the last chapter before the epilogue. This one's going to be more of a psychological fight between Bella and the Master. A lot of this inspiration is taken from the movie The Cell starring Jennifer Lopez and Vince Vaughn. Please don't hate this cuz there's no horror.**

** oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

Despite all that had happened to her, Bella moved closer to the Master, who was still looking out over the roof.

She stood next to him, feeling only a very small twinge of trepidation.

"So," he continued in a voice that did not match his intimidating form, "you've managed to overcome the Malignancies."

"They weren't that difficult once I knew how."

The Master chuckled.

They stared out over the dark streetm watching the odd car go by. Bella felt surreal. Of all the things she'd seen and done, this was by the strangest. She was standing next to a being that was the embodiment of her greatest fear and it was no different from talking to a doting Uncle.

"You must have so many questions for me." The Master said.

"I do." Bella answered shortly.

"Such as?''

Bella thought for a minute. What she really wanted to know was how to get rid of the Master, but that obviously wasn't going to be something he would answer to.

"What are you?" she asked after a while.

The Master chuckled again. "I can't tell you that I'm afraid. If I did, I wouldn't be around to answer the question you really want to ask."

"Alright then. Why are you doing this to me?" she asked.

"That I can answer." The Master replied. "But I think you already have a small inkling of _how _you allowed me to come to life."

Bella thought for a moment, remembering when she had cut herself. She touched her arm gingerly and continued to think about all that had happened before she'd ever seen the Master of the Malignancies.

"I think," Bella began, " that it has something to do with my state of mind."

She glanced sideways at the Master, who was still staring out over the street. Suddenly a gust of wind blew his hood off.

Bella's breath caught in her throat at what she saw.

Victoria, James' mate.

The Master chuckled. "Don't be alarmed. I cannot show you my real face because I have none." he was speaking in Victoria's voice. He paused and then his face changed to Riley's. "I suppose that can be where we start. My non-existence. I've always had no form. Unless someone is reduced to the state where there is no rationality left. They only focus on what they don't want to happen the most and their fears are exposed."

His face changed to Alice's.

" I turn into what people fear the most. I can be a ghost, a horror movie killer, a demon or just a regular killer."

His face now changed to that of the little girl that Wade had encountered.

"So many forms from the dawn of your birth. There is always one Master fear for every person on this earth. Luckily most aren't mentally unbalanced in some way. Those who are meet up with the Malagnancies and myself."

His face now changed into Alexa's.

"You presented the oddest challenge ever. Most people fear death and dying more than anything else, which is why it's so easy to take care of them."

Bella had a sudden thought.

"So is that why most people in psychiatric hospitals and asylums commit suicide?"

The Master, now with Charlie's face, nodded.

"They don't commit suicide. They just look like they have. But you...you weren't afraid of dying. In fact, you wanted to die so you weren't afraid. I had about two nights to work my way in some how when I realized your biggest weakness."

"And what was that."

The Master's face changed back to the black void.

"I can't tell you that, dear Bella." he said.

Bella looked out at the street again and wracked her brain hard for some solution. She wasn't afraid of death...so why were so many people dying around her?

Marshall, the first intern who'd died, hadn't really bothered her. But with Tina and Wade, she'd felt a heavy feeling of guilt.

Bella looked up, her eyes alert.

That was it.

But how the hell was she supposed to make herself feel less guilty when the Master could change his face to mimic anything that made her feel so responsible.

She turned to him.

"So what happens now?" she asked. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Live with it." The Master replied. "I must admit that you are so intruiging that I really do not wish you to finally kill yourself. But it has been so since man first felt fear. Yet you yourself are afraid of so little."

He turned to face her.

"I could stand here and turn into the most grotesque." his face changed to that of Michael Myers' mask. "Or the most ridiculous." his face now resembled Freddy Krueger's.

Bella's heart gave a small leap as the Master continued to change faces to resemble horror movie figures. All she cared about was the one he'd just imitated.

She'd only ever watched the first Nightmare on Elm Street, but that was enough.

"And still," the Master finshed, his face now resembling that of the ghost from the Grudge, "you would not be afraid. But if I continuously killed those around you, the guilt would eat you away until I was victorious." He returned to his normal face. "Admit it," he said, "neither you or I wants that to happen."

"So what am I going to do?" Bella asked.

The Master gestured to the distant ground.

"Why do you think I brought you up here? To finish what you started ten days ago."

Bella gazed at the ground and turned to face the Master. Then she lowered her head.

"Of course you have to enter your physical body again." the Master added.

There was a bang as the roof doors flew open. Bella turned and saw her physical body sleep walking toward them. Riley must have fallen asleep.

She was face to face with herself.

Then she entered her body and opened her eyes and turned to face the Master again.

She walked slowly to the edge of the roof and stepped up. She stared down at the grass below and took a deep breath.

The wind seemed to stop, time stood still. All noises quieted. Bella took a deep breath and prepared to jump...

Then she pulled her foot back and stood on the roof.

"What are you doing?" the Master asked tensely.

Bella ignored him and turned away and began to walk to the door.

"Bella stop!" the Master cried. "Do you really want to put your loved ones throught death?"

She turned back to him.

"You're not going to touch them anymore." she said so firmly that she surprised herself. "You see, I don't feel so responsible anymore."

"What do you mean!"

"I mean that the only reason they died is because Doubt and Despair made me think suicide was the only way to bring Edward back. But guess what? It wasn't."

The Master stood perfectly still as Bella continued.

"It's not my fault that Marshall, Tina and Wade died. It's not my fault that Alexa got hurt. It's yours. You're the one who killed them not me. You're the one who made the choice to come out of my darkest fears and ruin my life. But you know what? I don't give a flying fuck about you anymore. You're shit."

With that, she turned on her heel, her confidence returning so fast that she felt she was going to float.

The Master gave a terrible yell and lunged for her. Bella turned around and slammed her fist into his face.

The Master screamed an echoing yell as light shot out of the black void. Bella kept her fist there as the Master was torn apart by the guilt that Bella had managed to shift to him.

He exploded in a burst of brilliant white sparks.

Bella turned around and walked down the stairs, through the hall and back to her room.

She opened the door and saw Riley, fast asleep with his head in his arms.

Bella was suddenly aware that she was exhausted.

Despite this, the slight pain in her shoulder and the fact that there was blood on her pillow, Bella smiled and let her head hit the pillow, knowing that she would be able to sleep well for the first time in ten days.

**oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

**And there it is. Please be honest with what you think of it. The idea for Bella gaining power and shifting the guilt to the Master came from A Nightmare on Elm Street. **

**There's still the epilogue next, which is going to wrap things up and make everything right as rain for me at least. I want to do something that might not sit will with you readers, so I'll get to that when I write the epilogue.**

**Stay tuned and review. **


	13. Epilogue

**This is it. The Epilogue. I'll make the whole sentimental thank you at the end of this. I know it seems a little much to update six chapters in the course of two days, but I know how much people want me to update, so here we go.**

**oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

The sun was reflecting the mood of the city that morning. Bella woke up, feeling just as good as she had for the passed four days since she'd beaten the Master.

Alexa had made a speedy recovery, the Master have stabbed her in a non-fatal place. She and Riley were going to go to L.A. together so Riley could work at the Cedars-Sinai hospital.

Victoria had decided to keep Bella for the extra four days in order to make sure that she was properly alright.

During that time, Riley had told her about his phone conversation with Edward and about Victoria being dead.

She in turn explained in exact detail how exactly she'd managed to over come the Master.

"Wow," Alexa said, " a use for horror movies."

Today, being the final day, Charlie was supposed to pick her up. However Charlie had phoned Victoria to say that his car had been vandalised and that he wasn't going to be able to pick her up.

"What the hell am I supposed to do now?" Bella asked in a temper.

"We can drop you off." Riley said.

"But don't you have a plane to catch?"

"Not until this evening." Alexa answered.

Bella smiled and hugged them both.

"Thank you." she said, "for everything."

"Don't mention it." Riley said.

Since it was noon, they decided to go to the cafeteria and get something to eat.

Alexa was rifling through her bag, when she gave a jubilant cry.

"There we go." she said, pulling out Hell House.

"I can't believe you're still reading that after all the crap that's happened." Riley commented.

"I'm not." Alexa said. "I'm going to give it to Margie so she has something to do."

They all laughed and ate their lunches.

Bella spent the rest of the afternoon following Riley and Alexa around, helping them tie up some loose ends.

They were in the parking lot when Riley gave a shocked cry.

"My car!!" he said. Bella and Alexa looked up and gasped. Somebody had slashed Riley's tires.

"What the fuck!?" he moaned.

"We can still take a taxi." Alexa soothed.

"I know," he admitted, "but still...my car!! And what about Bella? How the hell are we gonna get her back to Forks?"

Bella was about to respond when she saw it.

The silver was shining brightly in the light as the car moved speedily into the parking lot. Bella was staring at it, her heart thumping in her chest.

The Volvo stopped about five feet away from her.

The door opened.

Edward practically fell out in his desperation.

He ran to Bella and put his arms tightly around her.

All Bella did was stare over his shoulder, not responding out of sheer shock.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Edward let go of Bella and gazed at her in concern.

"Bella?" he asked.

Finally she looked up at him, meeting his golden eyes.

Then without warning...she slapped him.

"Bastard." she whispered, thinking of all the crap she'd gone through.

Edward stared at her in shock.

"Why the fuck didn't you say anything!" she cried. "You could've spared me a hell of a lot of agony you know!"

"Bella I was trying to protect-"

"So it was okay for you to tell Riley over the phone but it wasn't okay for you to tell me?" she wasn't crying.

She was actually very angry.

Just then, another car came speeding noisily into the parking lot.

Bella gaped.

It was her truck.

Charlie jumped out and ran to her.

"Bella!" he said. "I'm so relieved." he looked at Edward darkly, then back to Bella. "What's he doing here?"

"I have no idea." Bella said.

"Oh." Charlie glanced angrily at Edward and then turned to Bella. "Um...can I talk to you in private?" he asked.

Edward shook his head as Charlie walked off and Bella merely fingered him and followed her father.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Look," Charlie began, "I know you're really into that Cullen kid but I don't think it's a good idea to get involved again. After what he did to you I'm surprised you haen't drop kicked him into the next county."

"So am I." Bella answered truthfully. She had been so looking forward to seeing Edward, but now that he was there, she wanted him to get out of her life.

It was his fault after all.

If he hadn't left, she wouldn't have cut herself and three interns would have still been alive.

"Right," Charlie continued, " so I'm right in thinking that you don't want anything to do with him anymore?"

Bella took a deep breath and nodded.

Charlie clapped her shoulder. "Good. Bella...we're moving."

"What?" Bella said, thrown completely off.

"That's right." Charlie continued. "I was thinking about it when you were in here and I really don't want you being around him, " he nodded in Edward's direction, "anymore. Besides...I have a position coming to me that'll be a hell of a lot better than a sheriff's salary."

"What's that?"

Charlie beamed. "I'm going to try my hand at big city policing."

"Where."

"Los Angeles."

Bella turned her head to where Alexa and Riley were examining his car.

"Would that be okay with you?" Charlie asked.

Bella smiled widely.

"As a matter of fact, it would be perfect." she said.

Bella walked back to the parking lot with Charlie. Edward caught her eye and she smiled rather vindictavely at him.

"Why are you doing this to me?" he asked hoarsely.

Bella turned to face him and looked him directly in the eyes.

"Because," she said, " you did it to me."

With that, she went over to Riley and Alexa to tell them the news and introduce them to Charlie.

And so, about two weeks later, Bella found herself and the new apartment in Los Angeles with Charlie. It was actually a nice place, in a pretty decent neighborhood.

What was more, it was only a bus ride away from Riley and Alexa's new house.

Meanwhile, in the Cullen's house in Forks, Edward was staring at the ceiling, brooding and thinking about Bella.

He'd tried to get the Volturri to kill him, but it had failed dismally when Alice, Carlisle, Emmett and Jasper had shown up to save him.

It was almost dark when his bedroom door opened and Bella walked in.

Edward sat up.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in shock.

"I came to see you." she said with a small smile.

Edward stood up and held her tightly.

"I missed you." he whispered. "But we'll be together now."

"Yes, we'll be together for a long time, I think." Bella whispered behind his back with an evil smile as her eyes turned a vivd, glowing red...

**oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo**

**And that's the end. I am so sorry if it's not the ending you expected. I was originally going to make the happy, shiny ending with Edward and Bella riding off into the sunet, but I just couldn't for a few reasons.**

**One, after going through the kind of hell that Bella went through, I don't think you'd be very happy with Edward no matter how much he missed you. I tried to make Bella have a real reaction.**

**And two, I just LOVE the cliff hanging ending. I actually came up with that about a paragraph before that. I remember reading a story that I wrote in my Grade Eight class that had a cliff hanging ending and people loved it. I know you guys might not be happy, but I sort of recalled how horror movies have those open endings.**

**I want to say a big thank you to all the people who read, reviewed, favorited and alerted this story. It means a lot to me. A big thank you to di14 and mixz for being my main reviewers. You guys rock!!**

**Lastly, thank you to Mugglecast for keeping me entertained. And to my slave driving friend Kelvin for chaining me to my desk and locking me in my room until I got this finished.**


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